The Yachiru Theory
by keikopanda102
Summary: Kenpachi Zaraki's zanpakto just will not cooperate with him! He's tried everything; meditation, force, cunning, and nothing has worked to unlock his swords true potential. What is he missing? What must he do? And what does Yachiru have to do with it? KxY
1. Chapter 1: Background

**The Yachiru Theory**

**Disclaimer: I don't own and all.... that.... stuff....**

**So, I wrote one KenpachiXYachiru story called When You Love Someone. It was very fluffy and sweet. It focussed all on their relationship and besides that had little plot. I wasn't going to write more KxY buuuuuut this idea popped into my head and I just ended up writing it all down anyways. See, the theory I once heard was that Yachiru is really... WHAT? You thought I was going to give you the plot of my fanfic that easily? If I did that then why would you read? Anyway, enjoy! Even though there is actual plot in this, that doesn't mean there will not be smex. Because there will. Maybe.**

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Chapter 1: Background

Kenpachi Zaraki was once again staring determinedly at his zanpakto. He didn't even register anything else in the room. Not the table in the corner, nor the mat on the hardwood floor, nor the darkened lamps around the edges. He was trying to make his mind completely blank. He wanted to see nothing but his sword sitting flatly on the floor in front of his feet.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt a breeze sweep in from the open open window to his right, and the shuffle of feet out in the hallway on his left. The dead silence in the room was edging on his nerves but somehow he felt as if it was required for the spiritual ritual he was trying to invoke. He opened his eyes and stared intently at his sword.

He felt a rush of affection for it, as he always did when he looked at it. It had helped him achieve so much, it had slaughtered so many, yet it was not even alive to really appreciate it.

If only he could learn it's name! Then he would be so much more powerful. He would control it, he would learn from it, he would grow along with it. Even since his battle with Ichigo he had started a habit of clearing his schedule to be alone so he could just sit and stare at it, try and talk to it, find a way to hear it's voice.

He had achieved nothing yet. Less than nothing. It seemed to him that his zanpakto was simply stubborn. It didn't want to help him. He was getting frustrated, to say the least.

He closed his eyes to inhale again but when he opened them, instead of seeing his nameless sword, he saw two maroon eyes and a flushing cheeks.

"Kenny! If you stare too long you'll get a headache and get grumpy again!"

Kenpachi was far to used to Yachiru's odd interruptions to be surprised now. He took her timing as a sign that he should give up for the day, it didn't seem as if he was getting anywhere anyway.

"Damn thing. What the hell do I have to do to get it to work?" he grumbled angrily as he stood up and placed his sword back at his waist.

"Don't yell at it silly!" Yachiru replied in a cheerful tone.

Kenpachi sighed in dismay. "You seem perky today. What did you do?"

She jumped onto his lap as he leaned back against the wall. She started counting off on her fingers as she spoke,

"First I went to go get some candy from Bya-kun but he didn't have any so I was mad when I was walking down the street in the 19th section street-"

"What were you doing over_ there_?" he asked incredulously.

"I got a little lost 'cuz I was so mad about the candy."

"What if you accidentally go in the restricted areas one time because you're lost? Then i'd have to come and get you and everything. It'd be a pain in the ass."

"You would come and get me? Yay! Kenny my hero!" She cheered.

He rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok. What happened in the 19th section?"

"Well There were a bunch of little soul reaper trainees and they were-"

"Lemme guess- training?" he interjected.

"Yeah!" She replied enthusiastically. "They were really concentrating then their instructor saw me and she got really nervous for some reason. She kept asking me how come I didn't have any missions or anything and if I would help the others train. At first I didn't want to a'cuz training is boring most of the time but then I saw a whole PILE of snacks sitting out over to the side. She said if I helped then I could have any of the snacks that I wanted!"

"You helped some kids train?"

"Yup! Then when we were done everyone was feeding me their food like they didn't even want it! They kept asking how come I was a lieutenant if I was so small and cute." She smiled slightly at this.

He frowned in contrast. "Was it guys who were saying this?"

She shook her head. "No, mostly it was girls. But Mi-kun... I don't even know if he was a girl or a guy. He kinda looked like both but he talked like a guy and he was wearing the male uniform. He sure looked like a girl though. Plus he was hanging out with the girls...."

As she continued her ramblings Kenpachi sighed. Girls and gay guys were fine for Yachiru to hang around. At least it wasn't some more guys chasing her around like she was a piece of meat. Zaraki swore if he saw one more guy look at his precious Yachiru with hungry eyes again he would chop him up and eat him for his mid-morning sandwich.

Speaking of which, he hadn't eaten anything all day, and all Yachiru's snack talk was making his stomach growl. She sensed that he was about to stand and hopped off his lap as he stretched and yawned as if it ere morning and he just woke up.

"You're getting lazy Ken-chan." She joked when she saw his tired movements.

"It's not my fault there haven't been any damn missions lately. Not that I really care. Non of them would be good enough for me anyway. Come on, let's get some food. You're still hungry right?"

"Of course!" She squealed.

Like he even had to ask. Even if he pretended not to, he couldn't help but wonder sometimes where she put all the food she ate. He figured she was just a black hole and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"What should we eat?" She asked as they walked into the kitchen.

"How about sandwiches?" his meat-head sandwich idea from before had really wet his appetite. The more he thought about it the hungrier he got.

"Coming right up!" She smiled and lifted her hands over head as if in a banzai motion. He sat at the counter and watched as she seemed to hop at the speed of light around the kitchen, grabbing different ingredients as she went. A long time ago they had made a system surrounding food that they just never seemed to break, no matter where they went. The system was this:

Kenpachi found the food. Yachiru made the food.

It worked quite well back in their first days together. When Kenpachi finally decided he would look after this tiny little baby girl with pink hair, he realized he would need a little help. What did he know about girls, especially innocent ones? After traveling through a few towns and noticing Yachiru's increasingly large appetite, Zaraki sought the local old lady to help feed them.

She was a kind old thing. Kenpachi couldn't remember her name and Yachiru had been too young at the time to even remember her face. The only thing Yachiru remembered was everything that nice old lady had taught her about cooking.

The old lady was so good at making amazing meals out of giant animals that Kenpachi would kill, he wondered if maybe her late husband had been a hunter. Her food was always the best. Her rule, Yachiru recalled as she pulled the mayonnaise out of the fridge, was, "Always use everything."

Yachiru always did. Every spice on the rack, every meat in the mix, every spread on the shelf, she put it in and hoped for the best. Luckily, Kenpachi wasn't very picky. She was even more picky than him, but if he ate something, she would at least have to try it.

As Kenpachi chomped on the foot high sandwich Yachiru had made for him and watched her try and find a way to put her mouth around hers, he thought back to the time when they were living with the old lady.

Yachiru could barely walk. She had taught herself to crawl quickly out of necessity after the few times Kenpachi had started leaving her behind. Kenpachi saw this as so pathetic he picked her up and put her on his shoulder. He could barely feel her back then, she was as light as a feather.

While they were living with the old lady Yachiru grew about 2 years. A lot changed in her in those two years. The years were different back then. She grew quickly and the phases of her life seemed less important and more vague, as if her growing up was just as the passing of time. She could walk well and soon after that she began to run. Kenpachi noticed her quick, agile movements and decided to see exactly how fast he could get her to go. He pushed her hard in her premature training, but she didn't mind. It was enough for her if, when she had accomplished something, Kenpachi just gave her a pat on the head and let her sleep with him that night. Suddenly her skill seemed to increase overnight. Not only was she fast but she was strong and her spiritual energy was growing. Kenpachi noticed that it seemed like every time her energy grew, so did his. He trained her harder and spent even more time together. She would barely leave his side.

Through all this time, Kenpachi did not stop fighting. He would go into town on days he didn't have to hunt for food, and hunt for something else. He wanted strength, he wanted to find the strong and to beat them into the ground. Yachiru loved nothing more than to watch him when he did this. These battles were the joys of her life.

At first Zaraki had not wanted her to see. After he realized he cared about her, he tried to make her stop watching him all together. This was the one and only time Yachiru had ever lashed out at him in violence. He remembered what she yelled when he tried making her stay back as he fought. With tears in her eyes and pink swarms of anger seeming to swirl around her she screamed,

"You'll lose if I'm not there!"

He was taken aback by her words but he made her stay home anyway. He won his battle but when he returned to the house with Yachiru and the old lady Yachiru refused to speak with him.

"But I won." he growled angrily.

The old lady only smiled. "That is because the Little One was watching you from behind a tree."

That night, Kenpachi promised Yachiru that she would always be there when he fought.

Yachiru's affection for cute nicknames was also due to the old lady they had lived with. She had a lot of names for both Yachiru and Zaraki. For Yachiru there were ones like Chibi, Little one, Pinku, Rosy, and Baby. For Kenpachi she used words like, Traveler, Swordsman, Young man, and O-Itami, Which meant, 'the one in pain.' Though she only used the last name when she was being serious.

Yachiru picked up the nicknames and started making up her own for everyone she met. All of this was because of the old lady that Yachiru did not even remember well. Kenpach took another bite of sandwich and thought sadly that it was probably for the best that she did not remember. The old woman's death was traumatic enough the first time. No use reliving it in memory. It even took away his hunger as he thought about it.

Kenpachi had left for town with Yachiru one morning, completely oblivious to the menacing auras that were watching their small cabin with vengeful eyes. As soon as they were out of sight, a group of bandits raided the tiny house, pillaging everything inside. The old lady, who was defiant for her age, tried to resist, but was no match. She called for Kenpachi to rescue her, but neither he nor Yachiru could hear her from the village they had just come to. The bandits left after they had stabbed her, leaving her bleeding on the floor of the kitchen she loved to be in so much. When Kenpachi and Yachiru came home to discover her she was still alive, but only enough so she could smile as Yachiru cried over her. Then, as she finally faded, she muttered one last word,

"Ridou..."

Kenpachi always assumed it was the name of her late husband, and that she was going to join him like she always wanted to do. He had no anger nor very many feelings at all when she had died. He had killed and seen far too much death to let himself be affected by it then. Yachiru, on the other hand, was furious. Kenpachi had seen her anger growing and growing, manifesting into her spiritual energy and forming waves of power that shot off of her like sparks. The tears in her eyes made light reflect off of them in a dangerously seductive manner. Even though she was only a child, Kenpachi could tell she was more terrifying than most men are in their entire lives. As her anger grew, something inside him grew as well. A great power embedded itself in his chest, and he clenched his fists before barking out,

"Yachiru! Would you like to kill them?"

Without looking up, she replied using a twitchy nod of her head. He bent down and lifted her onto his shoulder. As tears continued to stream down her cheeks, a smile placed itself on Kenpachi's face. He ran with her until they found the group of bandits.

This was the first time Yachiru had ever really used her strength. Kenpachi did not fight. It would not have been right if he had. It was not his anger, not his revenge, not his battle. He just watched as Yachiru seemed to form a zanpakto out of thin-air, and wield it as if she had been doing so for hundreds of years. She tore all those giant men apart, and Zaraki just watched, the same power he had felt before becoming stronger in his own soul. He glanced down at his sword, it seemed to be pulsating. He wanted to hold it, to wield it beside Yachiru and to assist her... but he was afraid. It felt like more power than he could ever imagine, and it scared him.

So he just watched, and waited until it was over. When that tiny, pink-haired girl finally put down her sword, panting with lethargic breathes, the power within Kenpachi seemed to be over with as well. It went as quick as it had come, and just as spontaneously. He didn't understand it, and he very little desire to understand it.

Only many years later, when he thought he had grasped as much power as he possibly could, did Kenpachi regret not taking up his own zanpakto at that time. Maybe that was the key to his zanpakto's power, and he had just been too afraid to accept it.

As he watched Yachiru munch on her sandwich, Kenpachi felt his sword emit a strange energy. Maybe soon he would learn the secret behind his own power.

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**Thanks for reading chapter 1! I have absolutely NO CLUE when chapter 2 will be coming out so..... alert! Or something...**

**Anyway. Review if you like the story so far!**

**KeikoPanda102**


	2. Chapter 2: Building

Chapter 2: Building

How did she fight?

Kenpachi had watched her many times, but never asked himself this question before. He went over it in his mind, comparing and contrasting her fighting style to his. The bare fact was; they were not very different. She used speed while he used strength, but the places that his strength and her speed came from were the same. Raw, unadulterated emotion.

Many fighters thought that the battlefield was no place for emotions. Byakuya Kuchiki was that type of fighter. Kenpachi had no patience for him. Ichigo Kurosaki on the other hand, fought with emotions ever fiercer than Zaraki's. With feelings there comes the need to win, and that need can defeat any opponent if used correctly.

Yachiru had a slightly different approach. While Kenpachi spent all of his time training himself to be mentally powerful and sharp, Yachiru spent her time restraining any power she had to save for another time. That way, she could unleash it when she needed it. Both methods had merit, but it caused the two people to have very different fighting styles.

The more Kenpachi watched Yachiru, the more he admired her style.

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Why did she fight?

Often, Zaraki wondered if Yachiru lived in her own little world. A world where there was only good things, and things that she liked. He asked her about it one day, and she replied,

"If I had my own world, only Kenny would be there!"

She had very few things she seemed to care a great deal about. Even those things that she did care about, were never of great importance. Anytime anything serious was brought up, she had the power to dispel bad feelings with a crack of a smile. She had an air about her that seemed as if she just simply did not care what happened to her or to anyone else, as long as a few set things were still ok.

So, why did she fight? If not to protect anything, or to revenge it, or to hold up some twisted morals, then why? She was powerful and terrifying, wise and strange, aloof and enigmatic, yet all at the same time, she was small, fragile, innocent, and positively cute. She was hard to understand sometimes, even to Kenpachi who had raised her and watched over her his entire life. He sometimes felt as if he knew everything about her. Like the way she smelled, or how her hair always flipped up, even when she wet it, or how her voice cracked when she tried to say something in a low voice. Even though the two of them rarely spoke of deep, meaningful things, Kenpachi Zaraki knew that Yachiru still had those thoughts somewhere deep inside. He just wasn't sure if he was ready to hear them. He didn't know if he was worthy.

The two of them did share one very important thought. They both believed that everything in the world was far simpler than everyone else made it seem. In this way of thinking and fighting... they were the same.

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"How did you get so damn strong?" Zaraki asked one afternoon as he watched Yachiru train by a river.

"Ken-chan made me strong!" She replied enthusiastically.

She continued to hop on top of the water like she had been before, practicing her speed and precision. It was hot, and since she was playing around on the water, she was only wearing a pink, gossamer halter-top cover that was long enough to flow from her torso to her knees. Under that she had a white tube-top and matching shorts. Kenpachi had shed his soul-reaper kimono and captains cloak and was just wearing light brown pants while the sun beat down on him as it sunk lower into the sky. He had taken his hair down from the usual spikes and was enjoying how silent he was every time he moved his head.

He still believed in the purpose of the bells but that didn't mean he had to wear them all the time. When he and Yachiru were relaxing it was perfectly fine for him to not think about battles for a little while.

If course, it did not stop him from thinking about his zanpakto. Discovering it's true powers was slowly becoming his obsession. He rarely kept it sheathed anymore, always having it out so he could spend more time examining it, trying to break it's code, to unlock it's secrets.

As he sat by the river he was letting the setting sun reflect on it's shiny, mangled ridges, inspecting each curve or dent, and remembering the battle that created it. How had he defeated so many people when he didn't even know the name of his sword? Didn't even know the name of his attacks? Everyone he had ever spoken to about it made it seem so easy, like the connection they had with their zanpakto was the simplest thing in the world to make. What was so different about Kenpachi that he could not seem to find the special something needed to make the bond. He didn't even really know what he was missing.

Yachiru deftly caught a fish, and looked back to see if Kenpachi had seen her. When she saw him once again staring at his sword, she dropped the fish back into the water, and turned away. Something inside her pained like the sting of seeing a loved one fall into the arms of another. She shivered. She sun had set, and there was no longer any light to keep her warm.

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A few days later Yachiru and Zaraki had wandered away from Squad Eleven's housing area together. They were feeling very cramped lately. They just wanted to be alone, no worries, and no pressures. Of course, they didn't really want to be alone, they just wanted to be by themselves, together.

They traveled a ways up a mountain, not so far where no one could find them if they were needed, but not so close as to where anyone would be very tempted to go looking for them. Zaraki made a fire and leaned back against a tree. Yachiru leapt around him, catching fireflies and other bugs. Once her even came back with a mountain cat cradled in her arms. She tried to show Kenpachi, but he was holding his zanpakto in his fingers with reverence, unaware of anything around him.

She dropped the poor animal and it scampered away. She silently sat down next to him, the fire reflecting in her maroon eyes and making them shine. Her voice was soft as she whispered,

"Ken-chan, you know I will never leave you, right?"

He looked up from his sword and glanced at her, seeing only her profile from the corner of his eye.

"You couldn't leave me if you wanted to." he replied.

"Wrong." She said just as softly, "You are the one who cannot leave."

He was silent for a while, trying to comprehend her words. Finally he said,

"Aren't you the one who is always saying that the moment I found you, I became your entire world?"

"Exactly." she said.

The fire crackled and the wind blew the smoke in Yachiru's direction. As if on instinct, she moved, hopping into Kenpachi's lap and settling down against his flat stomach. He didn't flinch when she did this, he was used to her physical style, and had even grown accustomed to it. He felt a bit colder when she wasn't touching him. After another moment of silence she muttered in a hushed voice,

"Do you know the name of my sword?"

Kenpachi's eyes shot open wide upon hearing this. His mouth dropped open but nothing came out. He didn't! He didn't know what Yachiru's zanpakto was! How could he not know? She had never said its name, not out loud. He knew what her sword looked like, but not its name, nor any of its techniques. He waited, silently, for her to tell him. If se asked a question like that, she would have to tell him the answer, wouldn't she? She knew he didn't know, other wise, why would she ask. She had to tell him, didn't she? Then why was she not saying anything?

He waited, then was about to growl at her in anger and frustration, when she turned around and smiled. His anger disappeared but still he could not utter a word. She just continued smiling at him in a very obscure manner, her expression drenched in crystalline cheer. Kenpachi began lifting his hand up, wanting to stroke her soft, pink hair for some reason. In that moment, both of their breathes were held. The air was thick with the mood, and it was controlling both of them as they let their emotions wash over them and corrupt their minds.

Kenpachi's hand never reached her hair, because in the next moment, the mood was broken.

"Captain!"

"Vice-captain!"

There was no intense shock in either Zaraki or Yachiru when Ikkaku and Yumichika dropped down from the trees and into their clearing. They didn't jump up, embarrassed once they realized the mood that had been taking over them. They just let those feelings slowly ebb away from them. Yachiru dropped the smile that she was wearing and plastered her usual peppy beam back on her face. Kenpachi exhaled and let his body relax, not noticing that he had been so tense until he could relax.

"Cue-ball! Homo! How did you find us?" she asked cheerfully.

"Homo!? Lieutenant, I'm not a- never mind, the point is, Head Captain Yamamoto needs to see both of you for a mission as soon as possible." Yumichika announced in an annoyed voice.

Kenpachi instantly perked up. "Ya think i'll get to fight someone?"

"We don't know anything about the mission, Captain, we were just sent to find you both and give you the message." Ikkaku said flatly.

"Good job!" Yachiru said, and patted Ikkaku on the head. He growled and rolled his eyes.

"Guess we should get going then. Come on Yachiru."

Yachiru jumped up onto Kenpachi's shoulder and held tight to his kimono as he raced down the mountain straight towards the head captains quarters.

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Ikkaku snickered.

"Homo. Ha ha!"

"Shut up Cue-ball!"

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**I'm really enjoying this story, what about you?**

**KeikoPanda102**


	3. Chapter 3: Begin

Chapter 3: Begin

Kenpachi and Yachiru raced as fast as they could to the head captains house, but on their way, Kenpachi still had time to ask,

"You aren't gonna tell me your zanpakto's name, are you?"

Yachiru smiled, pecked the side of his cheek with a kiss, and replied,

"Maybe someday, Kenny."

Kenpachi Zaraki's eyes widened in shock and he turned away so he couldn't even see Yachiru from the corner of his eye. He could still feel the warmth she gave off as she rode on his shoulder, and it made him quite content.

When they finally reached the head captain's house and walked inside the double doors, they were greeted by captain Hitsugaya and lieutenant Matsumoto.

"Ah, Bouncy!" Yachiru said as she hopped off of Kenpachi's shoulder and pointed to Matsumoto with a smile. Matsumoto's eyes lit up and she knelt down to see Yachiru at eye level.

"Are you going on this mission too, Lieutenant Kusajishi?"

"I'm not sure. Kenny seems really excited about it and I'm gonna go wherever he does, so maybe I will! You and Tiny are going too?"

"I still don't even know what the mission is, Head Captain Yamamoto was already out for tea when the captain and I arrived."

"And I'm sure waiting a few moments did not kill you." a confident voice struck from across the room. Head Captain Yamamoto took a seat in his usual post at the front of the meeting room. The two captains and sub-captains bowed their heads respectively before Kenpachi couldn't take it anymore.

"Is it true? About the big new mission?"

The head captain gave Kenpachi the kind of stare that alerts the speaker to be quiet, then he cleared his throat and began,

"There is a graveyard in China half the size of Japan, filled to the brim with bodies, and only receiving more everyday. As I'm sure you can understand, this is a prime breeding ground for lost souls, or souls of any kind. Where there are souls, there are hallows. We have been keeping watch on this monumental graveyard for sometime now, and lately the guards have been feeling uneasy. The hallows they've been fighting have been of a strange breed..." He took a breath, the room suddenly filled with a silent tenseness. "...a breed similar to the espada of our past. Of course, we should not simply jump in without any information, so the mission I am sending you all on is to scout for such information. We need to know what we are dealing with before we can construct a plan to deal with it. Understood?"

"Yes, Head Captain!" The four replied, saluting in unison. Before sending them off on their way he added,

"Don't be surprised if you run into Ichigo and his friends. I've heard rumors that Kisuke Urahara may be involved in this somehow."

"Ichigo..." Zaraki muttered enthusiastically. "He's the one I've been wantin' to talk to. He can give me some clues about unlocking your zanpakto's powers."

"Are you finally trying to find the name of your sword?" Matsumoto asked as she picked Yachiru up and gave her a piggyback ride.

"Yeah." Kenpachi nodded. "I think it's time I become a real captain."

"You know it takes years to truly understand the power of your sword. And if you really want to be up to true captain level that means mastering bankai. I haven't even been able to do that."

Kenpachi nodded, then soon the four went their separate ways, Zaraki and Yachiru heading back to their divisions housing to get ready for their journey. As they walked and Yachiru rode on his shoulder like always, Kenpachi tried to smoothly ask,

"So... do you know bankai?"

She saw through his uncaring aires and smirked, replying unhelpfully, "If Ken-chan doesn't know, then I don't know."

Kenpachi growled in annoyance but Yachiru just smiled, slightly enjoying the way she could frustrate him. As soon as they were ready to go, they met up with Hitsugaya and Matsumoto at the exit. The moment they entered the human world they found out that in China, it was not a very nice day outside. Rain was pouring down heavily on them, and all four wished to be out of it as soon as possible.

"Anyone know where we're staying?" Zaraki asked impatiently. They all shook their heads.

Yachiru then looked around to her left and noticed an open door a little ways down the road they had appeared on. There was a lamp hanging out front and it somehow made her want to go near it.

"We should try over there!" She pointed to the entrance. Since the others were just happy to have somewhere to go they didn't think twice about quickly hopping inside the dry front room. As they stood there shaking the water out of their hair and clothes, a voice welcomed them cheerfully,

"You're here already? I figured it would take you at least another hour to find this place."

They all turned around, confused to find the green and white stripped hat of Urahara Kisuke staring back at them.

"You!" Kenpachi and Matsumoto yelled. Yachiru just took one of Uruhara's hands in hers and twirled around giggling,

"Hat-man! Do you have a towel? Or maybe hot water? Then some sweet dumplings! Yummy!"

"Some warm milk would be nice." Hitsugaya muttered monotonously as he strode past Kisuke and into the next room, still shaking the rain from his hair. He took a deep breath and sat back as he rested his zanpakto on his lap. Almost as if appearing out of thin air, Tessai placed a coffee cup full of warm milk in front of the young captain, who nodded once in thanks before sipping it carefully.

Matsumoto and Zaraki finally walked into the common room of the building and Kenpachi chuckled menacingly.

"Too young to drink coffee, Toshiro?"

Hitsugaya gave no reply but Yachiru hopped over to him and decided to make a play off Kenpachi's setup.

"Tiny can't drink coffee, it stunts your growth! He would be even smaller and no one would listen to him anymore."

Hitsugaya's cool blue eyes flashed over to her and as he raised his mug up to his lips he murmured, "As if you can talk."

This just made Yachiru playfully snatch the cup away and chug it all herself, leaving a milk mustache which she then went to show to Tessai saying that she looked just like him. While she was playing around, Matsumoto and Kenpachi turned to Uruhara to see if they could get some answers. In the end he told them the same as Head Captian Yamamoto had; powerful, strange hallows haunting the huge cemetery deep in China. Then, just as he was about to tell them that he and a few others fighting off the hallows, he was interrupted by arguing from the front doorway.

"Soul reaper!"

"Quincy!"

"Moron!!"

"Dweeb!!"

"Stop fighting you two! We defeated the hallow, isn't that something to be proud about?" The third voice, in contrast to the first two male voices, was clearly Orihime Inoue, trying to break up the fighting between Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida. As soon as they understand who is walking inside, both Kenpachi and Yachiru become equally excited, but for different reasons.

The second she walked through the door, Orihime was attacked by a flying Yachiru, who nearly made them both crash to the floor.

"Boobies!" She yelled as she hugged the surprised and dazed strawberry. After a minute Orihime laughed and replied, "Kusajishi-chan! It's good to see you."

Kenpachi was a step away from going to speak to Ichigo about his zanpakuto, when he heard an unfamiliar voice coming from under a table.

"Oh! Oh! Orihime's back! And a little rose-colored cutie too! I've never cared for lolita but I could watch them hug like that for hours!"

Kenpachi glanced under the table to see a drooling lion doll, perverted intent just gleaming in its eyes. He looked to where Kon was staring and saw Yachiru hugging Orihime by the door. His eyebrow twitched, and then suddenly Kon tried racing out from under the table straight at the two giddy girls. He barely got a foot when a large strong hand grabbed a hold of his entire head and squeezed it so hard stuffing came out his ears.

Ignoring the painful sounds coming from the doll, Zaraki deftly tossed Kon out of the window nearest to him, where he fell limply in the middle of a rain-drenched road. He laid there for a few hours until he finally regained enough strength to stand up and sulk slowly back to his hiding place under the table, making a mental note to never again go near the huge man with spiky hair...

* * *

**So i'm just going to end the chapter here because I feel like I haven't updated in a while and you might worry if I put posting this off any longer. **

**Anyway, Cha! and Lolz for pervy Kon!**

**Review for Lolita fanservice! Lol jk! **

**KeikoPanda102**


	4. Chapter 4: Base

Chapter 4: Base

"Hey Urahara, we're pretty tired from today. Can we go to bed yet?" Ichigo asked through a yawn.

Kisuke didn't even glance up from his midnight tea as he replied, "I believe someone had something they wanted to ask you." He bent his head towards Kenpachi with a small, interested smile.

Ichigo gave the rough Soul Reaper Captain a curious look and Kenpachi nodded curtly. For some reason he felt like he wanted to keep their conversation private, so he led Ichigo into a dark side room with only a few soft chairs and one old lamp in the corner.

"Kenpachi..." Ichigo asked sleepily, "What's up?"

Kenpachi hesitated as he struggled to find the right words. He didn't like the idea of having to get help from someone else in order to understand his own weapon, but he was out of options, and the only thing left for him was the find out as much information as he could. Ichigo was the best possible subject because Kenpachi respected him, and their battle was the one battle when he had realized how much he needed to know more about his zanpakuto.

"Do you remember when we fought?" He finally asked, starting the conversation off broadly, making sure they were both on the same page.

Ichigo scratched his head thoughtfully. "What about it?"

"How you won. You remember that, right?"

Ichigo thought back, back to one of his first real battles, back when everything was only as simple as finding and rescuing Rukia. He had to think about it for a minute. As he tried to bring back the memories, he realized just how long ago it really was when he had beaten Kenpachi during his first trip to the Soul Society.

"Ah!" He exclaimed, finally recalling the exact event. "I do remember! Zangetsu, my zanpakuto, decided to test me, right in the middle of the fight! He kinda... froze time or something? I was sent to my weird inner world place and-"

"Stop." Kenpachi held up a hand as a look of concentration came over his face. "Inner world? What is that?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know, would you?" Ichigo asked rhetorically. "It's this world that's controlled by my zanpakuto. He always said it was a representation of my own soul. It's got sideways skyscrapers and weird colored sky's. It's hard to describe. I've never really had a lot of time to look around anyway. Whenever I get sent there I'm always fighting. Time moves differently there, or it doesn't move at all. I don't really know. I think all soul reapers have a place like that, but it probably looks different depending on your zanpakuto."

"Another world...?" Kenpachi was enthralled. He had never been more interested in a story in his life. "So, if I ever learn the name of my zanpakuto, I would have a place like that too?"

"Oh yes."

Kenpachi and Ichigo turn towards the doorway where Urahara had just spoken. The scraggly man entered the room slowly and sat across from them, smiling as he continued,

"We all have a soul realm. All you have to do to unlock it is find your Zanpakuto's spirit." He then chuckled a bit towards Kenpachi and added, "Which you seem to be having a bit of trouble with."

"You probably made your sword mad or something." Ichigo joked.

This made Kenpachi worry a little. He hadn't though of it that way. His zanpakuto spirit was angry with him? He could certainly understand why, if that was the case. He hadn't been the best kind of person. What if his own sword's spirit didn't like him? What if it didn't think it deserved him? Just as he was beginning to really panic, Urahara spoke up lightly,

"No, no. I don't believe that's what it is."

"Do you have another idea?" Ichigo asked before Kenpachi could.

Urahara just smiled. "I think we should wait and see, when the time is right. Now, of course, it is time for bed. Yachiru fell asleep on Matsumoto, and I believe she needs a bit of help removing her."

Ichigo let out another yawn as Kenpachi took the hint and walked back into the common room to find that indeed, Yachiru had attached herself to Rangiku's chest, and was not going to easily let go. Matsumoto was struggling to get the tiny pink haired girl to let go when and was relieved when Kenpachi came to help her. Kenpachi just walked up and grabbed his vice captain by the back of her shirt. When she didn't budge he growled sleepily,

"It's time for bed, get off."

Without opening her eyes, Yachiru allowed herself to be carried lazily down the hall and into a room that Tessai had instructed was for them to sleep in. Inside the room were two sets of bunk beds. Hitsugaya was already asleep on the top bunk but it seemed that Matsumoto wasn't going to come to bed any time soon. As he placed Yachiru on the top bunk and covered her with a blanket he heard Ichigo and Uryu arguing on the other side of the wall. He swiftly hit the wall with his fist and they both shut up.

There was a soft knock on the door and Zaraki turned to see Tessai carrying some extra blankets. As he handed them to Kenpachi he said,

"I had originally had that little one bunking with Miss Inoue and Miss Matsumoto, but Kisuke told me something about her not being able to sleep unless she was in the same room with you. Is that right? It's awfully cute I must say."

Kenpachi snickered. "It's just a pain is what it is."

Tessai nodded then left. Before laying down on the lower bunk, Kenpachi Zaraki patted Yachiru lightly and adjusted her blankets. When she knew he wasn't looking she let out a sigh and a silent giggle.

As he lay in bed Kenpachi thought about what Ichigo and Kisuke had said, and mostly about the description they had given about the soul dimensions. He found it all very interesting. It made him want to find his swords name even more. He squeezed the hilt tightly in his hand as he rolled over. He was the only one who kept their zanpakuto with them while not in soul reaper form. Mostly it was for defense, but it was also because he was trying to grow closer to it.

As he closed his eyes he wondered about hat his soul dimension would look like.

_Probably full of blood and monsters, since that's pretty much what my soul is bound to be by now. Ugly, cursed, evil... the soul of a demon... _He thought as he drifted off.

When he dreamt that night, he saw a land of red skies and flat, deserted land that went on forever. There was nothing. It was a world of empty nothingness. It almost felt as if his soul were nothing...

* * *

**Ending on a bit of a sad tone, but hey, at least I'm updating. Even if the chapter are short and pointless. lol, oh well.**

**Review for the image of Yachiru being attached to Rangiku's jugs! XD**

**KeikoPanda102**


	5. Chapter 5: Bring

Chapter 5: Bring

"We're going to have to give you a tour of the place."

Ichigo had his hands held lazily in his pockets as he led a group of eight people through giant, 30 feet tall arches into the barren land of the China Graveyard. Directly behind him was Orihime, following close with an out of place smile on her face. Chad and Uryu were next, both staring uninterestedly ahead of them. Kenpachi, along with Yachiru dutifully riding on his shoulder, were next in the parade. The dreary day and general depression in the air was causing Kenpachi's hair spikes to droop. Yachiru's head was as far back as was possible as she tried to crane to get a better look at the exquisite entrance they were walking under. Second to last was Rangiku, the vice-captain going slower as she tried to finish off the morning's breakfast of rice bread. Hitsugaya was a close last, ending their parade as his cool blue eyes scanned the area for clues and information.

Ichigo stopped just inside the arch of the entrance. Uryu went to stand by him and as he began to speak he pushed his glassed back up on his nose.

"There are four different sections of the graveyard. Section one is The Yih. It is reserved mostly for the wealthy classes and the graves are far more elegant than most. Section two is for children who died before the age of 5. It's called The Tiki. Section three is The Riki, and only bodies of the elderly are allowed there. Section four, the largest, is for dead bodies of unknown origin. It is filled with many soldiers that died in battle all throughout Chinese history. It's called The Xiari."

"I call that one." Kenpachi interrupted swiftly. When everyone just stared at him he scowled and replied, "What? Aren't we getting divided up to go scout for trouble?"

"Oh! I'm with Kenny!" Yachiru announced.

"We don't need to start pairing up yet." Uryu replied coolly. He adjusted his glasses again but before he could finish what he was trying to say, Ichigo finished it for him,

"Nothing happens until it gets dark."

"What're we doing here now then?" Rangiku asked drearily, obviously not enjoying the less than cheerful weather outside.

"We don't want anyone to get lost when it really matters now do we?" Uryu replied in a snarky tone.

"We want to give you a tour of the place." Orihime smiled. "I think we should stick together for a little while. It'll be fun!"

"Are we going to go see all of them?" Rangiku asked nervously, craning her neck only to see flat, grave-covered land that looked never ending.

"You can't walk them. Not all of them. There's too many. All together it's half the size of Japan." Ichigo said flatly. Kenpachi could tell the young soul reaper didn't enjoy being surrounded by so much death.

"How have you been patrolling them then?" Hitsugaya asked, still searching the grounds that he could with his eyes.

"It's been a challenge, but it'll be easier now that you all are here." Uryu also put his hands in his pockets as he began walking towards what looked like a large sign about 100 feet away covered in chinese writing. "We should start with the Yih."

"If it's so big, how do we get there?" Rangiku asked curiously.

Ichigo replied in a defeated voice. "Public transportation."

A few meters past the sign, which Uryu explained was just giving directions, was another sign, obviously the sign for a bus stop. The bus came to pick them up just a few moments after they started waiting.

Everything about it was old, down to the bus driving himself. Kenpachi even got the impression for a moment that the man was blind when he stared him with pale, worn eyes, reflecting many years of driving endless amounts of people through the graveyards. Then the old driver made an attempt to smile at Yachiru and say something in chinese that Kenpachi didn't understand. Yachiru, even though he was sure she didn't know chinese, smiled back at the man and bowed respectfully before taking a seat right behind him near the window. Zaraki didn't question it as he took the seat next to her, leaving just enough room for her tiny body to be seated comfortably.

"It's only 15 minutes to Yih from this entrance, in fact, most of the graves you'll see as we pass are part of Yih, but they like it if you go in through the actual entrance. From there it's another 45 to Tiki, then an hour to get to Riki, and about 5 minutes to get to Xiari. They may be big but they're pretty close together. We aren't going to go through the whole place, but I think you should at least see the... differences between each section." Uryu explained. He seemed to want Ichigo to be more of the leader but the orange haired teen was busy staring out the window the glazed over eyes.

And he wasn't the only one. As they looked around on the bus they saw more and more people get on who were either on the edge of crying, already crying, or just didn't seem to know what they were doing there at all.

_What a depressing place..._ Kenpachi thought to himself as he stretched out on arm next to him and over the seat Yachiru was seated in. In his peripheral vision he saw her give a big yawn and he asked,

"Didn't get enough sleep last night?"

She just shook her head and yawned again. Orihime leaned over the aisle across from them and said, "It was really late last night when you got in. We were just getting back from scouting out here. It was about 3 in the morning."

Yachiru yawned for a third time then laid her head against Kenpachi's arm. She made a face then turned the other direction only to turn back a second later. After a few seconds of squirming around she just hopped into Kenpachi's lap. She sighed and smiled.

"Nap time..."

Orihime smiled, obviously finding Yachiru's action cute. Kenpachi just laid his head back, seemingly a bit tired himself. It seemed, though, that as soon as he closed his eyes, Ichigo was nudging him to get up.

"This is the Yih." He said flatly as they stepped off the bus onto the moist ground of section one.

* * *

**The different sections will be described in the next chapter. I know this chapter seemed boring but it was just like, to keep me focused. Plus, i'n in Florida, which means I should be writing quite a bit for a little while. **

***cheers***

**KeikoPanda102**


	6. Chapter 6: Band

Chapter 6: Band

In almost exact alignment with the dreary day outside, the grounds of the Yih section of China's graveyard was doused in an air of complete depression, despite the obvious wealth that adorned it. The graves themselves were half large and imposing and half tiny and ornate, a more tradition asian burial. Each one gave off an obvious aura of sadness. Even the trees which were strewn about every few plots had dropping and dead leaves.

In fact, the only thing in a hundred mile radius in any direction who didn't seem like he was feeling the effects of the grief from all the death, was the watchmen standing cheerfully and greeting the group of eight as they got off the bus.

"Ichigo and friends! Have you decided to try visiting the park in the daylight? And look, you seem to have gained a few comrades as well."

Ichigo's face turned sour and his shoulders stiffened.

"Yin..." he muttered, "Do you ever get tired of being annoying?"

The guard's smile just spread farther onto his cheeks. His pale blue eyes reflecting the happy air permeating around him. He turned to the others and bowed, his shoulder length, wavy brown hair easily swirling with his movements. Still in his bow, he spoke to Rangiku, Hitsugaya, Kenpachi, and Yachiru saying in a rather teasing voice,

"Greetings new friends... What brings you to the Yih today? Though, as I see you with this gang of children, I surely already know the reason..."

"They're here to help." Orihime said as Yin's long, dark blue gown finally straightened and he came out of his bow, turning his smile her way. He then turned to the side a bit and asked,

"How may I be of assistance, hm?"

"Same as always, stay out 'a the way!" Ichigo warned.

As if completely ignoring Ichigo, Yin held a hand out to Rangiku. She smiled cautiously in reply. The twinkle in this mans eyes reminded her of something she just couldn't quite place, and it made her nervous.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Yachiru asked suddenly. "Don't you know we're in a sad place?"

Yin turned to her but didn't drop the smile as he replied smartly,

"I'm always here, and I can't be unhappy all the time. Isn't it better to smile."

"I don't like you, Smiley." She scowled.

Yin just turned and looked down at Hitsugaya, asking,

"So, shall I give you a tour?"

Toshiro glared at Yin. No one seemed to like the smiling graveyard guard.

"Fine, give us a tour, but for the record, I don't like you either."

Yin nodded and began walker through the main pathway of the graves. Kenpachi gave a loud groan.

"Finally we're moving. Damn I thought we were gonna stand there all day."

The group walked a few feet in silence, and that was when Kenpachi noticed that something was off. He wasn't making any noise. He reached up to feel his hair for the bells he always placed in them. Yachiru caught his hand in hers and said softly,

"We're in a quiet place, Kenny. No bells."

He grunted as he lowered his hand. "I'll be pissed if I have to fight someone and it's too easy."

Kenpachi could just see Yachiru smile from the corner of his eye.

The further the group walked down the main path of The Yih section of the great China graveyard, the more ornate the graves and burial sites seemed to become. Another thing they noticed was that the larger and richer the graves were, the less people went to see them. When they reached a stopping point, they were completely alone amongst dead bodies.

"I assume that is all the time you have to see the Yih today." Yin said with a bow. "Please follow the path back to the bus station and have a pleasant day."

They seemed to reach the bus station much faster than when they were going to other direction, and got lucky when a bus was there waiting for them. It wasn't the same as the one they had ridden before, but was equally old. As soon as they sat down Rangiku sighed.

"That wasn't as huge as I thought it'd be."

"That's because we only saw about a third of it." Uryu muttered quietly.

Rangiku's eyes widened and she sat back, not saying anything more until they reached the Tiki. Then, as soon as they stepped off the bus, both Rangiku and Yachiru had matching screams of,

"YOU!?"

Standing right in front of the bus stop was the same shoulder length brown hair, the same impish, pale face, and the same creepy, never-ending smile they had just seen a few minutes before at the Yih. The only difference was instead of having a dark blue gown with khaki pants underneath, this Yin had a greenish yellow gown with dark green pants. He smiled exactly the same as Yin had when Rangiku yelled,

"How the hell did you beat us here?! Is there another road?"

"When did you change your clothes?" Yachiru added angrily.

Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime walked lazily past the smiling man, Ichigo even yawned. When they noticed that the others were still there gaping at the smiling man, they stopped.

"Maybe we should have warned them…" Chad muttered in his signature deep voice.

"This is Tin, Yin's brother." Ichigo jerked a thumb towards Tin. Tin bowed to them.

"Sorry to confuse you." He said in the exact same voice as his brother. "I know we look the same and it can be very difficult to tell us apart."

"More like impossible." Rangiku muttered under her breath.

"Welcome to the Tiki." Just as Tin said this he noticed another group of people get off the bus behind Ichigo and friends. He nodded to them and bowed.

"Welcome to the Tiki. I am sorry to greet you."

The group bowed sadly in reply and walked down the main path together to go visit whomever they needed to. Tin then returned to face the soul reapers and helpers.

"Shall we begin the tour?"

Ichigo nodded and they set off. After only walking about 10 steps Rangiku had to stop and ask, "Wait, which gravesite was this?"

"Children." Hitsugaya reminded her, not looking up from the path in front of him. She became silent as she watched people flow around her, walking towards their respective visiting sites. A moment later Kenpachi felt Yachiru jump down from his shoulder. Everyone watched as she ran over to the first group of mourners and bowed in front of the grave, surprising them but making them smile as well. She then did that four more times, running to each one and bowing as fast as she could. When Kenpachi finally realized that she intended to pay her respects to all the children in the graveyard he grabbed her as she tried to run past him to the next grave.

When she looked up Kenpachi saw her face dirty from the tears she had been crying as she ran. He sighed as everyone waited to see what he would do. He bent down so he was eye level with her and used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe her face off.

"You look like a weakling, what's wrong with you?"

"S-s-sorry Ken-chan. I'm not s-strong like you…" She sobbed into his sleeve.

"Liar." He spat in reply. "Don't be a baby."

She stuck her tongue out at him. She then gave a small hiccup, and he sighed again as he picked her up to carry her. She rested her head on his chest and the group continued to walk. After a few meters he heard her mutter,

"It is sad, right Kenny?"

"Yeah. It is."

By the time they had gone through the Tiki and were returning to the buses, all the people in the group were equally depressed. Orihime and Rangiku followed after Yachiru and cried for the families visiting their dead children. Hitsugaya cleared his throat as they sat down on the next bus.

"You were all paying attention, weren't you? Knowing these grounds is going to be important for this mission."

Everyone nodded and Hitsugaya bowed his head then turned to Ichigo and asked,

"How far to the Riki?"

"We're almost there. The Riki's the smallest." He paused for a moment then said, "And I should warn you about Rin."

"Don't tell me..." Kenpachi muttered as the bus pulled up to the stop. All of them let out an annoyed sigh when they saw another graveyard guard look-a-like waving and smiling at them cheerfully. As soon as they stepped off the bus he bowed, still smiling and introduced himself,

"I am Rin, third of the Four Grave Brothers."

"There's FOUR of them!?" Rangiku asked incredulously.

"We should have seen it coming when there were two." Hitsugaya added as he began walking along the path through the Riki graves.

Yachiru climbed back up onto Kenpachi's shoulder and stared down at Rin thoughtfully. After a minute she held up her hand and counted on her fingers while saying,

"Soooo, the first one had a blue dress on, the second one had a yellow dress on, and this one has a red dress on. Wonder what the last one's color will be!"

"They aren't dresses," Rin replied happily, "They're gowns."

"Looks like a dress to me." She said with a scrunch of her nose.

He just smiled then turned to watched where he was leading the group. It didn't take them long to get through the Riki, and it seemed like everyone was finally more focused on what they needed to do now that they had a decent idea of what the grounds of their possible future battles would look like. They had barely said goodbye to Rin and there was Xin, the final graveyard guard brother of the great China graveyard. He looked exactly the same as his brothers but wore a pure white gown with matching pants.

"Welcome to the Xiari." he said with a bow. "Many dead soldiers and other abandoned peoples lay here in the endless dirt. I do not get many visitors, not in the day time at least. And on The Day of Remembrance, on which a parade of children and others from the nearby area come to show their respects to the ones without a name that lie here. Mostly they come to make sure the spirits of these dead men and women do not come alive to haunt them."

"When is the Day of Remembrance?" Hitsugaya asked.

"If I remember correctly it should be only 3 weeks from now." He smiled even wider as he thought about it, as if he were remembering a nice thing, yet underneath that was still a subtle disturbance in his tone that made everything he said sound a whole lot creepier than it should. Rangiku noticed it more than anyone, but she just pushed it off as him being the creepy guard of a graveyard. Creepiness just comes with the territory.

It took them quite a while to get through the Xiari and halfway through Yachiru's stomach grumbled loud enough for all of them to hear it perfectly.

"I'm hungry too." Kenpachi added as Yachiru giggled on his shoulder.

"We're going to go home and eat, then we'll have to come back after dark for patrol." Ichigo murmured unhappily.

Everyone was quiet for a little while, but soon they all felt as if they needed to talk. There really was no one that came to visit the Xiari, but there were more graves than they had seen yet in any of the sections. It was absolute silence, and somehow even quieter than that, because there is special kind of quiet in graveyards. It's even quieter than silence any other time. There's no wind, no bugs or birds for what seemed like miles, and it felt like a vacuum, keeping the sound of silence and death away from anyone else.

They were all quite happy to leave when the time came. Right before the bus pulled up at the stop Ichigo turned to everyone in their group and said solemnly,

"Take another good look around, because we're going to be coming here for a while..."

He then got on the bus, followed slowly by everyone else who was obviously looking forward to going anywhere away from the graves, even if it was just for a little while. The last to get on the bus was Rangiku, who was standing by Xin as he nodded his head towards Ichigo who was already sitting on the bus and asked,

"He's a weird kid, ain't he?"

She scowled, finding it strange that all of the brother's grammar and speech had been very proper the whole day, and yet now this brother had said 'ain't' with that same odd smile all of them liked to keep on their rather pale, impish faces all the time.

Again, she shook it off and stepped on the bus after everyone else, also glad to be gone from the seemingly endless land of bodies they had been touring all day long.

No one was looking forward to coming back at night...

* * *

**Long chapter! Hows that, huh? pretty nice right! I think so too! Anyway, time to see how many people read the Bleach manga, am I right? XD **

**please review! **

**KeikoPanda102**


	7. Chapter 7: Breath

Chapter 7: Breath

The group of Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, Rangiku, Hitsugaya, Yachiru and Kenpachi reached home around 5 o' clock. None of them had said anything to each other since they had left the graveyard. They had had to ride yet another form of public transportation to get back to the road where Urahara's second shop was. If they thought the trains were packed with people, it was nothing compared to when they stepped onto the busy street as they made their way towards the shop's 'welcome' sign.

Everyone seemed to be completely oblivious to the entrance of the store, rushing past it on their way to wherever they needed to be. As Kenpachi glanced up towards the sky he found at least one thing that was probably something to be a little bit happy about. The sky had cleared up from the morning funk it had been in, and looked as if it would stay cloudless throughout the rest of the day and the night.

Ururu was the first one to greet them as they walked through the open doors into the warm, non-air conditioned shop. She was holding a small personal fan in her hand though she looked like she wasn't sweating at all. Especially compared to Jinta who had his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a dog, trying to get as much cold air as he could find. When he saw the group enter he yelled lazily,

"Hey! Their back!"

He then turned around and pulled the single regular sized fan in the room as close to his face as he could monopolize the airflow. Ururu quietly muttered in her soft voice,

"Jinta... you should really let the others have some of the air too..."

He ignored her and continued fanning himself. "It's not like I _asked_ to get dragged all the way to China in the middle of this heat wave. They can get their own air!"

As they all sat down around a round table situated on the floor and Tessai brought them a large pitcher of iced tea, Kenpachi finally asked,

"So... how long do we have?"

"We need to leave at sunset." Was Ichigo's immediate response.

A depressed silence filed the room after that. Even Yachiru sipped her tea quietly, and the silence was only broken when Kisuke popped his head inside the doorway, asking in his easygoing voice,

"How did everyone like it?"

More silence greeted him, and he took his seat with them around the table. After he took a sip of his own glass of tea he murmured playfully,

"I assume you all were introduced to those four guard brothers?"

They all made a little grunting noise, then Matsumoto scowled and said,

"Yeah... they all kind of rubbed me the wrong way, you know? They were weird."

"They're always like that. You might want to get used to it, since they guard at night time too." Uryu replied unhappily.

"Can they see us?" Hitsugaya asked cautiously. "Do they have some connection to the Soul Society?"

"They can do a whole lot more than see us." Ichigo answered in an equally unhappy tone as Uryu had. "We don't know who they are or what they know but... they know stuff. Stuff about us. And about what we're doing."

"We should keep an eye on them." Hitsugaya said determinedly, wondering why no one had mentioned the suspicious characters before.

"We have been." Uryu said slowly. Ichigo nodded and finished for him,

"They really don't do anything besides guard the bodies. They do disappear now and then, but they turn up not 2 minutes later. Trust us, we would know if they were really up to something. They're even there when something shows up to fight. Not that they help, they just stand there and wait for one of us to kill it."

Everyone in the room was thoughtful for a little while. Kenpachi was getting a little bit annoyed with the situation. When he had heard about this mission, he thought it would be a good chance to train himself and maybe find some answers to the millions of questions he had about his zanpakutô. He wanted to at east be able to fight something or someone strong, but now it seemed he was beginning to get caught up in the mystery surrounding the mission, and that was leaving no time for him to think about himself. He could feel Yachiru's restlessness as well, she was never one to enjoy being quiet for so long, yet she knew when there was a time and place.

Both of them were almost happy when it was finally time to leave for the graves. Kenpachi was the last one out the door that night, Yachiru riding dutifully on his shoulder. He was caught off guard when Urahara stopped him just before leaving and asked to have a word with him. He sent Yachiru ahead which made her a little angry, but she complied none-the-less.

"What is it, Kisuke?" he asked impatiently.

In a very cryptic answer he replied,

"You should focus on the Xiari. It may have some of those answers you've been looking for."

Kenpachi gave him a confused look, but anticipation bubbled up in his stomach. If anyone knew how to find answers, it would be Urahara. He would follow his advice no matter what.

Yachiru didn't ask him anything when he caught up with her and the rest of them. But, she did seem to hold on to his clothes especially tight as they entered the graves just as the moon rose above the mountains on the far edges of the flat expanse of graveyard.

"It's actually a bit chilly now." Rangiku pulled her sleeves down to cover her arms some more.

As they walked farther into the depths of the graves, probably somewhere around the entrance to the Yih, tiny lamps placed flat on the ground, about 5 feet from each other began lighting up almost magically. Before anyone could wonder how they hadn't noticed them before, Yin stepped out from behind a giant statue of a lion, smiling his creepy smile and said,

"The lamps are solar powered. When the sun goes down they have sensors that tell them to turn on."

Without acknowledging that he was even standing there, Ichigo addressed his group.

"Have we already decided where everyone is going?"

"Um, I told Rangiku I would watch the Yih tonight with her..." Orihime said to Ichigo shyly, sidling over to the other orange haired woman quickly.

Ichigo nodded. "Uryu and I will take the Tiki and Chad and Toshiro can handle the Riki."

"That leaves me and Kenny to go to the Xiari!" Yachiru smiled, finally finding something to be happy about that day.

Ichigo nodded again and said one last thing before they all went their separate ways,

"Remember, midnight is the time when you really have to be on watch. They've been weak so far, but we never know when that could change. Be careful."

Everyone quickly flashed away, Kenpachi greatly enjoying being able to use his real speed and real body instead of the lousy gigai he had been wearing all day long. Yachiru was also happy with the way the cool breeze blew threw her hair as she rode on his shoulder towards the Xiari.

"Ken-chan?" She asked suddenly. "What do these enemies look like?"

He laughed. "Hell if I know. I just hope they're tuff."

He wasn't thinking very much about whatever they were trying to protect the lost souls from. He was thinking about what Urahara had said to him earlier about focussing on the Xiari. It's true, he had gotten a strange feeling when he had been in that particular section of the graveyard earlier that day, but he mostly thought it was the same thing he felt in all the four parts of the graveyard; distinct unease. There was something wrong here, he could feel it. And he also knew he wasn't the only one who could feel it. Yachiru was on edge, so was everyone else. It filled the air with an odd feeling of waiting. Kenpachi was glad he had something to distract him from the waiting. He reached down and gripped his zanpakutô tightly as he stopped and looked around at the Xiari at night.

The graves themselves seemed less lit up than the other areas they had passed on their way there. There were fireflies everywhere they looked, Yachiru's eyes lit up when she saw them and she instantly tried to catch the closest one to her.

"Ken-chan?" She asked as she hopped onto the ground, "What should we do until something fun happens?"

He narrowed his eyes as he looked around the graves and few trees as if searching for something. He huffed when he couldn't see or feel anything out of the ordinary around him.

"I wanna talk to that Xin guy again."

Barely had the words left his mouth and a voice behind them spoke,

"I'm here, and awfully curious as to what I could possibly help _you_ with?"

Kenpachi scowled, knowing a diss when he hears one, but ignored it to ask,

"Kisuke said you might be able to tell me why my sword won't show me it's true form."

The first thing he heard after he said this was a heavy sigh coming from next to him. He glanced down at Yachiru, confused when she asked in a bored tone,

"Ken-_chan_, why are you still going on about that?"

Kenpachi was left speechless as Yachiru frolicked away among the fireflies and graves. He turned back to Xin, shaking his head and wondering when exactly she had grown tired of his search for his zanpakutô's true form. Xin did not mimic his look of surprise, he seemed to completely understand Kenpachi's previous question so he answered,

"I think I know where to take you. Follow me."

With one nervous glance back towards Yachiru he followed Xin down a dark path where no solar powered lights seemed to shine. Before he had time to wonder where he was going, a bright light came from out of the darkness and blinded him, Xin seeming to magically disappear at the same time.

* * *

**So... I like this story. I wish I were a better writer to do this story justice... Oh well.**

**KeikoPanda102**


	8. Chapter 8: Bright

Chapter 8: Bright

As soon as the light cleared from his eyes, Kenpachi Zaraki realized he was not in a normal place any longer. The generally dreariness of the graveyard was nowhere to be found in this new place. It was obviously still a graveyard, that much he could tell. The ground was strewn with plaques and tombstones, most rather large and specially designed. They seemed to glow with an ethereal light that gave Kenpachi the impression they were almost alive.

He started walking down a pathway made through the diameter of a circle of light, separating this area of graves from the rest of the Xiari. Kenpachi wondered how he hadn't noticed it before, especially when he came upon the center of the circle to find a giant 15 foot katana sculpture glowing even stronger with the same celestial light. As he reached it, he looked up at the intricate hilt that was closest to the sky and had to admire the craftsmanship used to make it. It looked almost as if it simply fell from the heavens and got lodged in the earth, stuck there for eternity. He placed one hand tentatively on the side of the statue as he wondered again where he was. He got his answer when Xin decided to pop up unexpectedly on the other side of the blade of the statue.

"Wondering where we are?"

Although surprised, Kenpachi tried not to let it show on his face.

"Yeah..." he murmured. "What is this place?"

"Where am I? What is this place? Where is Yachiru?" Xin asked in a mocking voice. "So many questions. Don't you ever get annoyed with knowing so little?"

The larger man scowled.

"I never asked where Yachiru-" he faltered and looked around searchingly. "Where is she?"

"She decided to stay behind." he replied unhelpfully. "To guard the souls and all."

Kenpachi snorted. "Wasn't that _your_ job?"

Xin's smile widened. Kenpachi watched as his white gown flickered quickly behind the statue and disappeared, only to reappear on the other side.

"So," he seemed to finally get to the point, "You want to know about Zan?"

"What is Zan?" Kenpachi asked curiously.

Xin rolled his eyes with a smile. "You know; Zan. Zanpakutô, Zanjutsu... Zan." His eyes flickered up at the statue of the katana similar to the very one Kenpachi held at his waist. It took him a minute, but he finally got it.

"Zan... is the swords?"

"Basically."

Kenpachi smiled. He was finally getting somewhere.

"What can you tell me about it? Can you make mine come alive? Tell me how to force it out of hiding!"

Xin began shaking his head back and forth with a very amused look on his face. Kenpachi scowled as Xin said,

"Not me. I don't know much at all about sword-lore. Not nearly enough to help you, anyway."

Kenpachi exhaled in annoyance. Had this man gotten his hopes up for nothing? What was this place then? Why did it have a statue of just the thing he was trying to learn more about?

"Who, then?" He asked impatiently. "Can't anyone tell me?"

Xin just nodded, backing away as the lights on the tombs and statues began glowering at what seemed to be the peak of their brightness. He was momentarily blinded again as he heard Xin's last whisper,

"_They_... _can tell you_..."

* * *

Quite a ways away, under the pale half moon that shone down upon the desolate lands of the Tiki, beneath which lay the bodies of hundreds of poor young souls, walked two men. It seemed only a little while ago that these men were boys, just living semi-normal high-school lives, without having to worry about much of anything. In the years the two had known each other, both had grown in more ways than one, in part by the trials and tribulations they were faced with. But, Uryu found himself thinking lately that Ichigo hadn't really grown at all.

"I mean, you're turning 20 soon, aren't you?" he asked accusingly as the soft wind picked up and ruffled his outfit. "Shouldn't you think about settling down with... someone?"

Ichigo let out a loud combination of a sigh and a groan while pulling a hand through his short orange hair in frustration and embarrassment. He glanced at Uryu through the corner of his eye. The quincy had somehow become one of, if not his best, friend throughout the years. He thought it had something to do with the bespectacled man always finding a way to follow along on any adventure he went on what-so-ever. He couldn't help but grow close with him.

Even so, that didn't mean he wanted to share his love life with him! Ichigo had never been one of those guys who actually knew anything at all about romance or feelings or even sexual urges for that matter. He was a prude, the opposite of a pervert, like most of the guys(and some girls) he knew. He knew Uryu was just as much a prude as he was, but the quincy somehow found a way to own his prude-ness much better than he did.

"I'm no good with dating... and stuff." he said as they continued their stroll through the graveyard.

"You don't say?" Uryu replied flatly.

Ichigo sent him a glare. Uryu just sighed like an exhausted mother trying to teach her child something new.

"Look, just because you don't notice it, people are _always_ hitting on you and flirting with you. Inoue practically throws herself at you every time you're in the same room. Why not just go for her?"

Ichigo thought about it for a moment, letting the image he had or Orihime soak in his mind. He shook his head. He really had this vision of her as someone who wasn't very serious, and he didn't always like that about her. Of course, he didn't want her to become more serious, because then she wouldn't still be Orihime, but he didn't think he would make a good match with her.

Uryu could tell before Ichigo shook his head what the red-head's reply would be. He moved on.

"How about Kuchiki? I know you've been through a lot with her, and you always seem to get along well... when she isn't beating the crap out of you."

Again, Ichigo took a moment to think about it. He did like Rukia's spirit, he had a fondness for her that no one could ever replace. But, there always seemed to be a wall dividing Rukia from everything else. As hard as he tried, Ichigo could never break past it, to see into who she really was. He liked her strength, and her determination, but there was a break in the connection somewhere, and he just couldn't fix it. As much as he liked Rukia, and he did like her a lot, he didn't think he could love her. She was in the distance. _Maybe someday..._ he thought, _when she's closer to me._

"No... not Rukia. I just want someone who'll stay by me forever, no matter what happens." Ichigo muttered into the sky.

Uryu shook his head. "Ok, perhaps I asked the wrong question. How about this: who would you most want to have sex with?"

Ichigo turned a bright shade of pink at this question. He stared at Uryu in frustration, annoyed at the monotone look on his friends face after asking such a shocking thing. This time he didn't waist any time thinking about it.

"Th- that- I- what-?" he stuttered until Uryu cut him off.

"If you don't say someone, I'm going to pick someone for you." he threatened. "And I happen to think there's a certain red-haired vice-captain who wants you badly."

Ichigo's eyes widened as he comprehended the statement.

"Rangiku wants-?"

"No." Uryu's eyes narrowed as he answered. "A _different_ red-haired vice-captain. One who has quite an abundance of _eyebrows_, if you understand the hint."

Before Ichigo could even begin to scream his objections at Uryu, the quincy had drawn his arrow, aiming for just a little left of the substitute soul-reapers ear. Ichigo spun around just as the light arrow was shot and saw as the target got evaporated. He drew his sword as more followed after the fist one.

And for once, he was glad to have the horribly gruesome creatures come after him. At least killing them would distract him from thinking the soul-crushing thoughts Uryu had just been kind enough to place in his head.

* * *

**Lol. So, I actually just wanted to end the chapter after the whole mysterious Kenpachi thing, but it was far too short, so I added some silly subplot about Ichigo's love life. Fun, huh? **

**You still end up with a cliffhanger though. Actually, this is kinda a **_**double**_** cliffhanger! How talented am I? XD**

**KeikoPanda102**


	9. Chapter 9: Befuddled

Chapter 9: Befuddled

Kenpachi opened his eyes to find himself face-to-face with what looked like a spinning top, about the size of a top hat. Suddenly, the top turned around, and Kenpachi realized it had a face. Two green eyes, a long pointy nose, and thin, wide lips. As he was still trying to figure out what the thing was, he heard it squeak in a frightened manner, then dart a few feet away and scream,

"Xiiiiin! Who is this?"

"This is my friend. He's hear to ask you guys a few questions." Kenpachi turned around to see where Xin's voice was coming from. As he did, Xin smiled then leaned his head back, staring up towards the sky.

"It sure is a nice moon tonight." he stated flatly.

Kenpachi glanced up towards the moon, then back at the strange creature he had first seen. He noticed that the odd thing was also staring at him strangely, but he ignored it. He then figured something else out; it was a little bit see-through, and the light it seemed to be made out of was coming from the moon's rays, like a spotlight.

"What is this thing?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm not a _thing_!" it replied in a somewhat childish, but obviously male voice. "My name is Boushî Suê and I'm a spirit!"

Kenpachi Zaraki's heart raced.

"A spirit?" he asked tentatively. "What kind of a spirit?"

Boushî tried to answer, but another voice spoke before him,

"A zanpakuto spirit, what else?"

Kenpachi quickly spun around, only to see nearly 40 or 50 of the same kind of spirit. They were all very different. Most had humanoid shapes, but others were like Boushî, strange animals and objects that had human-like qualities. It seemed that the one who had spoken had been a tall but thin man with pleasant features and neon yellow hair that went in an umbrella shape around his head. He had baggy black pants on with stripes down the sides that matched his hair. His shirt was white lace with straps that fell off his shoulders. Kenpachi thought he looked like a fag, and he also didn't like the smirk he had on his face.

But, at the same time, he was unbelievably excited. These "spirits" as they'd called themselves, would know what he needed to find out. What better source of information than a zanpakuto itself for finding out about zanpakuto's? He made sure to phrase his next sentence carefully in order to not offend the spirit man.

"Are you all the spirits of zanpakuto's?"

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" The same spirit replied.

Kenpachi looked around some more, finally asking, "Where are your soul reapers then?"

Silence followed his question, then he watched as the same flamboyant spirit let his eyes wander down towards the ground and rest over the grave he was hovering closest to. He then knelt down and placed a ghost-like hand on the tombstone. Kenpachi noticed that a few of the other spirits did the same thing, a few even had tears come to their eyes. When he finally got an answer, it came from yet another spirit.

"We are all that is left of our Masters..."

"They're dead?" Kenpachi asked in his straightforward manner.

"Been dead for years now, most of them." the gangly, bright colored spirit who had addressed Kenpachi first replied solemnly.

"Then... how come you all are still here?"

"Usually, yes." This time Xin was the one to answer. "But you see, this land is sacred, and allllll of these soul reapers were buried here. On the nights when the moon is bright enough, the spirits of their inner souls come alive."

"Why would you bury them here?"

"Tradition." Xin shrugged. "I didn't decide to put them here. Soul Reapers have been buried here for centuries. They don't die very often, you know, so when they do, the soul reapers that are still alive wanted them to have somewhere nice to go."

"How come I've never heard of it? I'm a soul reaper too. A captain!" Kenpachi asked angrily. He was starting to really question what he saw in front of him. He already didn't trust any of the guard brothers, so why should he trust his information?

"You moron!" the same brightly colored spirit yelled. "No one wants to talk about where people are buried! Its-"

"Pachikasa!" a scolding voice spat out the name of the umbrella spirit. Kenpachi turned to see a rather fierce looking female spirit with jet black hair pulled into a tight bun. She had red eyes and matching red lips, a black and blue gown with a high collar that went down to her feet, and her voice was shrill like a school bell. As soon as her glare forced Pachikasa to silence himself, she turned on Kenpachi, hovering over to him and squinting as she looked him up and down, obviously evaluating him very strictly. After a minute she turned her nose up and said,

"I have no patience for liars, you are _no_ captain. What are you then? And where did you get that unfortunately abused captain's cloak?"

Kenpachi glanced down at the tattered sleeves of his white captains robe and smiled, revealing sharp teeth. He then scowled.

"I am Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of the 11th squad. I'm no lier."

"You!?" She cried, shocked. "You cannot be _soul reaper_, much less a _captain_!"

"Why the hell not?" Kenpachi asked, growing more and more annoyed with these spirits the more they talked.

"This land is _sacred_, like Xin said. It's magical. If you were _truly_ a soul reaper, you're own zanpakuto's spirit would be reflected by the moon and shown beside you!" The teacherly zanpakuto's spirit seemed to have her feathers rather ruffled by Kenpachi's attitude. She was breathing very heavily as he glanced next to him, somehow expecting to see a spirit there. When there was nothing, he sighed.

"I dunno the name of my zanpakuto." he replied in a bored voice, as he was tired of having to repeat it.

The obnoxious woman in red huffed and said,

"Impossible! Even if you didn't know the name of your zanpakuto, a faceless figure would still be shone beside you. Sometimes a soul reaper will come here if they are having difficulty reaching their sword. The physical manifestation makes it easier to communicate. With nothing beside you, all I can assume is that you are a simple human, or some sort of horrible deformation of a soul reaper."

Kenpachi felt a bit taken aback by these words. He was not some sort of a freak, was he? He was just having a little bit of difficulty with his zanpakuto. Sure, he worried there may be some sort of internal problem, but he hardly believed it would be _his_ fault.

Then again, he was a rather ruthless, disturbed individual, and from what he had seen and heard, some zanpakuto's were rather picky when it came to who their master was and what they did. Maybe it was his fault? But then why would his zanpakuto spirit not even be shown beside him, almost as if it were not there at all...

"I killed and fought my way into the ranks of soul reapers, and I never had a minute of real training before murdering the former captain of the 11th squad. I never needed the help of my zanpakuto before, my own strength and spiritual pressure was enough. But lately, I've needed to become stronger, so I can face and defeat stronger opponents, who already have help from their sword's special powers. I came here for that help."

It seemed as if nearly all the soul reapers on the graveyard were staring daggers at him for a full minute while he waited for someone to reply. Finally it seemed Xin had grown impatient with all the silence, and he finally said what it seemed he had been waiting all night to say,

"I think you should take him to _Her_."

"Impossible!" cried the same female zanpakuto. There was an uproar behind her of similar cries of agreement. It seemed that no one wanted to give Kenpachi any answers or help him in the least. All the various swords wanted to do was bicker. He heard the woman zanpakuto start to argue with the umbrella looking one, who seemed to be at least slightly on Zaraki's side.

"...he obviously looks and acts like a captain. He's got a captains aura."

"It doesn't matter what he looks or acts like! We are zanpakuto! We should be loyal to zanpakuto, not trying to help every wet-behind-the-ears soul reaper who needs some problem solved!"

Pachikasa glared under his blond bands that seemed to extend all the way around his head.

"Look, we don't know why he don't have a zanpakuto spirit. Don't ya think _She_ would like to hear about something rare or possibly unheard of like this? What would it really hurt to bring him to her for a minute!? I know you are obsessed with her and all, but this is like, why she's here!"

The woman zanpakuto seemed to give off heat as her face turned almost as bright as her dress and eyes. She was growing even angrier than Kenpachi was feeling at the situation he found himself in, and the repeated haltering of his finding out what the hell the name of his god damn sword was! After a minute, she seemed to calm down, and the rest of the zanpakuto that surrounded the area quieted as well. She twisted her neck and shoulders as if feeling uncomfortable while at the same moment beckoning,

"Mizudora! MizuGon!" Two small children in blue shrine keeper's outfits came floating from the crowd and and stopped bowed in front of her. She glanced once more at Kenpachi and at the other zanpakuto then sighed.

"Take this..._ Captain_ here to her Moon Garden. Make sure he doesn't try anything."

"Yes Ma'am!" They replied in syncronized childish voices. They then flew forward and each one grabbed a hold of one of Kenpachi's arms. Before he knew what had even happened he was being dragged away from the brightness of the graveyard down a darker path, where the only light seemed to be coming from the two zanpakuto spirits who were guiding him. He caught the eye of he one on his right and he smiled back. Kenpachi kept staring ahead for at least 5 minutes until he turned back to look at his shoulders and saw that the two children had changed into dragon-like water serpents, their bodies flowing through the air as if they were in water.

"_We're almost there..._" the voice seemed projected into his head, and it had a bubbly, underwater tone underneath it, making it sound surreal. He continued being led by the matching zanpakuto down the path until finally he saw light just around another corner. When he turned the corner, the pull on his sleeves vanished and the two spirits seemed to fade off into the bushes.

He walked forward a few more steps, finding himself in the middle of a beautiful garden, filled with many varieties of flowers he had never seen before. They almost glowed in the moonlight that show down strongly on the figure n the very center of the garden.

Kenpachi somehow knew she would notice him, so he made no movements to announce himself. He just waited for her to turn around. Her light was brighter than any of the spirits he has seen before, and she had the energy of a very wise being. He held his breath when she finally turned around and asked,

"Who are you?"

**So yeah sorry for slow updates. I kno it sucks. I'm just really, really mother fucking busy lately. I'm moving and schools ending and my moms moving and its happening ALL AT THE SAME TIME! GAH! **

**Anyway, I would just like to make sure there are still people who are enjoying this story? Because I usually like a little confirmation of that. It makes me want to write way more! **

**KeikoPanda102**


	10. Chapter 10: Bitch

Chapter 10: Bitch

"I asked..." the voice grew in strength as she spoke, "...who the fuck are you?"

Kenpachi just stared, mouth hanging open, until she said,

"The hell you starin' at, Boy? Answer me!"

Kenpachi felt a tick in his forehead at being called a 'Boy' but shrugged it off. In front of him was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was thin and tall, maybe a little taller than him, and her skin, besides already glowing from being reflected by the moonlight, seemed to be made of a light kind of metal. She had long hair that flowed down her back, and each strand looked purely golden. Her lips and eyes were also colored gold, and although they looked soft and sweet, the attitude behind her words did not match it. She wore a long gown, like a princess would wear, it came in at the waist and went out around her legs. At the front, there was a crescent shaped hole in the dress that revealed her long legs and small golden shoes. The dress itself was the most striking silver color and had layers upon layers of stiff looking fabrics, each with a different design on them. The bodice was like a corset, it emphasized the metal hooks that kept the strings in place. Around the bottom pouf there were large metal blades that stuck out in a complete circle around the dress.

Just as he was nearly finished staring at her, she pulled one of the blades from her dress and held it towards him like a sword, glaring as she muttered,

"I do not like to repeat myself. Tell me who you are!"

"My name's Kenpachi Zaraki. 11th squad captain. I've got a-"

"I don't give a damn what you have, Boy. I've run out of answers to peoples questions." She turned away from him and back to tending her flowers.

Frustration was quickly ebbing into Kenpachi as she continued ignoring him. Who did this bitch think she was anyway? Queen of the Zanpakuto's!? He exhaled slowly and spoke with determination,

"My zanpakuto won't tell me it's name."

Her reply was quick and short,

"Maybe he doesn't like you."

She then turned around to add,

"You are pretty ugly."

Kenpachi growled in annoyance.

"If you weren't a girl i'd have hit you by now..."

"Go ahead and try it, moron!' She cackled.

He ground his teeth together then exhaled again. "No, I'm not going to. I need you're help."

She was silent for a moment, and when she finally replied it was in a much softer voice,

"I cannot help you. I have never seen anything like your situation before. Your zanpakuto simply does not seem to be with you, and I cannot sense it at all. It's just... gone."

She stared at Kenpachi with her golden eyes for a few moments, letting her words sink in. Finally something seemed to break. Kenpachi unsheathed his sword and swung it behind him with a great roar of power, slicing through the bushes and lighting up the ground with his riatsu. He screamed as loud as he could then leaned, panting, on the hilt of his sword.

"Dammit..." he muttered after a moment of silence. He then looked up at her, eyes still full of anger, and asked,

"Aren't you supposed to be some powerful, all knowing spirit? What the hell am I going to do!?"

She lifted her chin and said,

"My name is Zanikko. It means, "one sword." That is me." she pointed off into the distance, over the hedges and back where Kenpachi had come from. He followed where she was pointing and saw the very tip of the giant zanpakuto that stood tall and proud at the center of the graveyard. All of his anger left him as he stood there, shocked.

"That's _you_?" he asked, unbelieving.

"Of course it is! Who else?" she replied in a confident tone.

"I didn't even think that sword was real! I thought it was just a statue!"

"Of course it's real, Stupid, it's my master's grave. He was very powerful." She seemed to drift off into her own world until clearing her throat and saying, "Anyway, even though I can't help you find the name of your zanpakuto, or even where it is, I do know everything there is to know about zanpakuto. Maybe I could help that way?"

"Everything there is to know?" he pondered out loud. "Like what?"

"Every zanpakuto has it's own name."

Kenpachi sighed, leaning back on a tree and crossing his arms.

"I think I figured that out already."

She narrowed her eyes and turned away from him slowly. "Fine. I guess you don't want my help then..."

"What else?" he asked, only slightly interested. Her admission that she didn't know how to help him had greatly depressed him. He really just wanted to go fight someone and use all his strength in battle. It would make him feel much better.

Although she didn't approve of his attitude, she couldn't help but want to spew more of her zanpakuto information. She picked up a rather fluffy flower, it was glowing like the rest and had a sky blue tint. She grabbed the top of it, crushing the seeds that made it puff out. As Kenpachi watched with growing interest, she tossed the used stem of the flower on the ground and held the seeds in her hand, lifting it up towards her lips. She blew on the seeds gently and they began to form two shapes. One looked like a man, and the other like a taller, thinner, and less defined human shape.

She smirked at Kenpachi as she said,

"I thought you might need visual assistance to comprehend."

He just laughed a rough laugh and walked closer to the image suspended in the air. Zanikko waved her silver hand and the shapes moved, the man was kneeling while the spirit shape circled him like a vulture. Her voice was thick with meaning as she spoke,

"A Zanpakutō can determine whether or not its wielder is worthy of its power. Perhaps that is your problem... but I doubt it. I've never seen a zanpakutô leave its master before."

Kenpachi watched the spirit circle the man a few more times, no he could tell it was deeply evaluating the man, making sure he was worthy. Suddenly the image's changed, the man was laying down, obviously fallen from battle, and the spirit shape became a broken sword.

"Normally, even a broken Zanpakutō would return to its original state as its wielder recovered."

As she spoke, the man figure slowly got to his feet, the sword mending itself at the same time.

"You don't think mines broken, do you?" he asked as the sword reverted to its spirit shape and stood loyally beside the man. She just shook her head, silver hair flowing with the movement. She bent down and picked up another flower, this one had pink seeds. She crushed it the same way as she had the first one. This time the figures both looked slightly more female.

"Watch" She commanded. "This is important."

The man went over to the female seed spirit and grabbed her. She quickly became a sword, and the man swung her repeatedly, trying to get her to revert back. When he finally gave up and released her, she returned to normal by her rightful masters side.

"Because they are part of their owner's soul, a Zanpakutō cannot be replaced."

"Damn." Kenpachi cursed. She snorted his way as she had obviously known what he was thinking.

She shooed the seed beings away, and they drifted off into the breeze.

"There are more things, but it's enough for tonight. There is only one more thing I wish to tell you; It is not uncommon for the introduction of the two to take place in the inner world while the prospective Shinigami sleeps. Do you understand?"

"When I'm sleeping?" he asked. "What if I don't remember?"

"That's what I'm worried about." she replied, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Is there anyone who would be near you when you sleep, to tell you if you ever said anything, maybe even a name, during your sleep? A girlfriend or something?"

Kenpachi shook his head. "Just Yachiru. She always used to insist on sleeping in my bed with me."

The female spirit raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Yachiru? And who is she?"

"She's my-" Kenpachi hesitated. They weren't technically related and she obviously wasn't a mate or anything like that. She was more than a friend though. "She's my companion." he said finally, and firmly. "She'll know if I've ever said anything in my sleep."

He then scowled, glancing behind him then up at the moon.

"How long have I been here? I should get back in case there's somethin' to fight."

"Perhaps.." she murmured as he once again felt the grip of the two children zanpakuto spirits on his sleeves pulling him away, "...you will come back tomorrow night?"

"Sure." he grinned. "Tell me more about my sword."

"Indeed." She smiled, showing a row of pointed teeth that glinted in the moonlight, pure metal.

**Ehem, I've been inspired... today. Haha, thats better than not at all, huh? XD**

**Thanks for reading!**

**KeikoPanda102**


	11. Chapter 11: Ballin'

Chapter 11: Ballin'

A few of the zanpakuto spirits, including the twin water dragons, waved goodbye to Kenpachi as he walked away to try and find Xin and get back to the regular graveyard. The moon was starting to descend and he was getting restless, worrying about what Yachiru was doing while he was in the special graveyard. Xin soon popped out from behind a bush, nearly causing Kenpachi to grab him by the throat and strangle him for being so annoying.

"Looking for the exit?" the graveyard guard asked.

"Where-"

"That way!" Xin cut him off and pointed down a small side path he hadn't noticed before that led to a detailed, square arch.

Ignoring his urge to kill, Kenpachi headed towards the exit, finding it strange that the there was a wall of bushes that surrounded from the arch as far around the special graveyard as he could see. He also didn't like the silence he heard, or didn't hear, past the exit.

He stood in front of it for a moment, looking at it and trying to figure out if there was something special about it. He could see nothing but more graves on the other side. It seemed to be made out of old blades, but besides that looked perfectly normal. He took a cautionary breath and stepped through.

* * *

Yachiru dodged another attack aimed at her throat. These enemies rather liked to attack that weak point. She spun in the just in time to have a different sword place itself near her back. Her eyes widened and she twisted her body out of the way as the sword was lunged forward, aiming to kill.

When she landed there was so much force she skidded a few feet back, using her left hand to balance herself and regain her composure. She then felt something trickle down her chin. Without even having to wipe it away she knew it was blood. She closed her eyes for a millisecond as she cursed,

"Oh darn. It's no fun if Kenny's not here to see."

Her enemies, noticing her momentary weakness, moved quickly forward, weapons raised in attack. If she could see their faces, she figured they would look something like a zombies, completely void of emotion and understanding, not even comprehending anything.

They way they attacked her gave this impression. They were straight forward and didn't seem to care if they were hit. They were not affected by riatsu very much, and the wounds she had inflicted didn't bleed, just glowed black.

There were two, but first there had only been one, and she was prepared for more to appear. He had come out of nowhere, almost like he just sprouted right out of the ground. She lifted her sword to block her face, then in an offensive move, swung forward quickly to slash across the white mask covering the top half of her enemies face that stopped just below it's nose.

In truth, they wouldn't have been very difficult for her, except for their size. They were thin and short, only a few inches taller than her. Since she was not used to ever fighting something smaller than she, it was hard for her to quickly adapt. They wore solid black jumpsuits that blended in well with the dark and they obviously knew their way around the graves in the cemetery. The most annoying thing, though, had to be their zanpakuto. They were completely invisible.

Well, that was just Yachiru's first thought when she started fighting them. She soon found out that they were not actually invisible, they were simply so thin that when held the right way, became invisible in the dim light of the night. Every now and then the moon light would reflect off one of the blades and give her a better impression of what she was up against, but she still found that not being able to see what she was trying to dodge was awfully troublesome.

The swords were also longer than normal, besides being difficult to see, thin, and sharp. Yachiru had to keep her distance otherwise the weapon would be at her throat once again before she had a chance to defend herself. This was also messing up her style of fighting. She liked close combat offense, and thought defense was for weaklings. The more they pressed on towards her, the angrier she grew until she was snarling back and forth between both as they had cornered her in front of a rather tall headstone. She let loose a harsh wave of riatsu but the energy only distracted them for a minute. She rolled over to another grave then flash stepped quickly to sit, waiting, behind a different grave about 30 feet away from where they were looking for her.

Her chest rose and fell hard as she waited for them to find her. She closed her eyes for a moment then as she opened them, something caught her eye. In front of her, about another 10 feet away, was an arch. As she stared at it, it began to glow. She smiled as Kenpachi stepped through.

"Finally!"

His stronger riatsu instantly attracted the attention of the identical hallow creatures. They quickly made their way over to him, one slower than the other because Yachiru had succeeded in chopping off his leg. The other had a huge scratch across it's mask that almost but not quite made it through and killed him.

Kenpachi raised his eyebrows in surprise, noticing Yachiru sitting behind the headstone before he noticed her enemies. He might not have noticed them at all except that when he saw Yachiru's bleeding lip, he knew to look up to find the cause.

When he smiled he released all the energy he had been hiding, filling the night with an eerie yellow light coming from his very soul. This distracted the two enough so that Yachiru could slice through the both of them in one go, landing on her toes and sheathing her sword as they disappeared into the night.

Kenpachi smiled and nodded his head appreciatively.

"Nice." he said in a cheerful voice. "But how come you didn't let me finish 'em?"

She walked slowly over to where he stood and placed a hand on her hip.

"Can't let Kenny have _too_ much fun." she then glanced around and added, "Besides, there's gonna be more."

Kenpachi watched her wearily for a moment, glanced back at the archway from which he came, then asked,

"So, you not gonna ask where I was?"

She sighed in a defeated tone then replied, "Ken-chan was trying to find his zanpakuto. _Again_." She spat the last word with a clear touch of venom, but didn't even look at him when she said it, instead stared at the moon with a calm, tired interest.

He hesitated, waiting for her to add more, perhaps give him the reason for her sour tone, but none came, she remained as silent as the dead around them. It was only then that Kenpachi noticed the light pink the sky was turning off in the distance, showing that morning was on its way. He waited a few more minutes for some sort of add-on from her, but again, none came. Finally he became impatient and began asking,

"Why are you-"

He was cut off by Ichigo dropping in unannounced, followed soon by all the others. They all seemed tired, and Kenpachi suddenly felt a bit bad that he hadn't been fighting with everyone else. Not that he was guilty about it, he just hated to miss a good fight.

"How'd it go with you two?"

"I met the bad guys!" Yachiru leaned back against Rangiku's leg as she spoke. "They don't talk much, do they?"

Ichigo just shook his head.

"We don't know why they're here, or what they want, we just know that their presence is not good for all the souls still stuck in this graveyard. All we can do is keep fighting and try to find some clues so we can take them down for good."

Everyone nodded. Rays of light began making their way across the barren land and Kenpachi noticed Yachiru's eyes begin to droop. If he did feel bad about anything, it was leaving her alone all night. When Uryu announced that it was time to return home, he softly picked her up and carried her all the way back to the shop.

After laying her down on the bed he cursed at himself, remembering that he needed to ask her if he ever talked in his sleep. He shrugged as he watched her small chest rise and fall in easy, even breaths.

"Guess I'll just ask tomorrow..."

* * *

"So those are our enemies?" he asked after Ichigo filled him in on what he'd missed. No one questioned where he'd been, they just assumed it had been important. "And they all fight the same?"

"Yup." Ichigo yawned sleepily. "The thin swords are the trickiest part, but one you get around them you only have to worry about the numbers."

Kenpachi gave him a questioning look which Ichigo answered with a tired sigh.

"We've been here a few months, and we've noticed a pattern. The more moon in the sky, the more of them we have to fight. Full moon is a bitch, but hey New moon is a cakewalk, so it kind of evens out."

"Seems like a lot of stuff has to do with the moon around here..." he muttered, remembering something Xin had said about the zanpakuto spirits and their connection to the moonlight.

* * *

**Well I am tired. Then again, when it comes to my writing, that is usually a good thing. Well, it has pros and cons. Late nights equals good plot building and ideas and actually decent writing. But, it also means probably more typos because of laziness and my eyes beginning to droop as I type. **

**Review pwease!**

**KeikoPanda102**


	12. Chapter 12: Before

Chapter 12: Before

"Does Ken-chan's snoring count?" Yachiru giggled after Kenpachi asked her if she had ever heard him talk in his sleep. She was drinking a huge glass of milk while stuffing down some sweet rice porridge Tessai had made for breakfast. Kenpachi sighed over his own breakfast of some fried rice snack Yachiru said was too salty for her tastes.

"Dammit." He mumbled, knowing that if Yachiru had never heard anything, there was nothing to hear. If anyone would ever notice something about him, it would be Yachiru. She seemed to watch him closer than anyone.

But, he glanced down at her eating her breakfast, now when it seemed that she should be full of questions, wondering where he was last night, being curious as to why he would want to know about talking in his sleep, she had nothing to ask, as if she wasn't paying any attention to him at all.

It was putting Kenpachi in a sour mood. It didn't matter who else was around him, if Yachiru wasn't there then it was darker. He had never appreciated it before, but then he guessed it was like how the old saying went: You don't notice how special something is until its gone.

Sure, Yachiru wasn't gone in the literal sense, she was still sitting at the table smiling cheerfully. But she was smiling cheerfully at someone else, laughing off Kenpachi's question as if it weren't even important.

If Zaraki didn't have so much on his mind from all the information he received the night before about his zanpakuto, he would definitely be more worried about Yachiru's behavior. But, as it would seem, he was preoccupied. Even as they made their way back to the graveyard later that night, he still didn't question her as to why she chose to have Orihime give her a piggyback ride and not sit perfectly on his shoulder like usual.

Still, once they arrived at the graves, she followed after him when he went towards the Xiari, a slightly more serious look on her face. He barely noticed the way her large feline eyes seemed to glow and watch him in the dim lights of night as he headed straight towards the grave of zanpakuto spirits.

He only realized she was following him so closely when he was just about to pass through the archway into the hidden gravesite. He stopped just outside the entrance.

"You coming?" he grunted, not waiting for her reply and stepping through the barrier alone.

On the other side she sighed, letting herself fall to the ground in exasperation. When would he start to understand?

* * *

Too distracted at the prospect of finding out more facts about zanpakuto, Kenpachi went through the archway without another glance behind him. He walked quickly past the giant stone statue of the huge sword. Just as he made his way towards the path that led to the tombstones of all the dead shinigami and their respective zanpakuto spirits, he called behind him,

"Wait til you see this place, Yachiru. I don't get why you wouldn't come with me last night to see it."

"I assume you aren't talking to me...?" a voice muttered laughingly behind him.

He turned and was surprised to find Xin staring at him while leaning against a vine-covered wall lazily. Xin gave him a not-so-welcome smile then stood up straight, waiting for Kenpachi to ask,

"Where's Yachiru?"

Xin just shrugged unhelpfully. "I thought she was with you."

Kenpachi didn't trust the graveyard guard, and tried to look harder into the darkness behind him. It was obvious from the moment he looked that Yachiru had not followed him through the archway. He frowned.

"I need to go back and get her." He wondered why she had not come with him, for the second night in a row. He wasn't used to not having her around all the time. She loved to follow him anywhere he went, so why was she stopping now?

Suddenly the two zanpakuto spirits from the night before, the water-dragon children, appeared giggling from behind the bushes. Kenpachi noticed how oddly watery their laughter sounded. They seemed to speak in giggles, as they never said anything else. They grabbed each a hold of one side of Kenpachi's captains cloak and pulled him away from Xin and the entrance to the gardens, and towards the path leading to the queen of zanpakuto spirits.

As soon as he stepped into the clearing he saw Zanikko blow upon the glowing seeds that she had used as a visual the night before. Once again formed in the shapes of a man and his zanpakuto spirit. She turned to him as he walked closer and smiled.

"Are you ready to learn more?"

He looked behind him, scowling into the darkness, hoping Yachiru was behind him now, but saw nothing. He turned back and focussed his attention on the seed creatures before him. They seemed brighter than they were the night before, as did Zanikko. It made Kenpachi glance up at the moon curiously. He then noticed that it was a tiny bit bigger than last night, and in that way it shined down more. He almost asked about it, but was cut off by the zanpakuto queen.

"The Zanpakutō size reflects the amount of the swordsman's spiritual power."

Kenpachi almost missed the seed man gather a powerful light around him, and as it increased, so did the size of his sword. Kenpachi scowled though, as he found a flaw with the information he was receiving.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." he said flatly, causing Zanikko to ask,

"Excuse me?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki." He repeated. "His bankai is even thinner than his shikai. But he's one of the strongest fighters I know."

"Is he fast?" she asked, smiling in an all-knowing way.

Kenpachi nodded. Zanikko waved her hand, and her seed figures went back to the image of a man and a spirit.

"There are exceptions. There are exceptions to almost all of these 'rules.' They aren't carved in stone. For example..."

She crushed a pink glowing flower and it formed the same female shinigami and zanpakuto spirit like yesterday. She pointed to both the pairs, blue and pink, as she spoke,

"Usually, and this is not some zanpakuto law, in fact I'm not even sure most people recognize it as true, but for the most part, a souls reaper's zanpakuto spirit will be the same gender as it's master."

"That makes sense..." Kenpachi said thoughtfully, staring at the seed people floating on the air like dolls. "Because the sword spirit comes from the soul reaper's spirit, right?"

"Yes!" Zanikko cheered. "You've been listening."

"But you said there were exceptions, how is that possible? Would that mean that the soul reaper was really a different gender on the inside?"

Zanikko stared into the bright figures before her with concentration. She hesitated before answering,

"I don't think so. I think it's something more to do with the connection between a shinigami and it's respective zanpakuto. Each relationship is different, and you cannot compare any. There may be some different meaning behind having a zanpakuto that is a different gender than you, but I couldn't tell you what it is. For me, there was no difference. My master simply had to defeat me in battle. I just happened to be female, and he was male. He liked to say that because he was so strong, I had to be his other half, to balance him out."

Kenpachi wanted to think about the idea of a female zanpakuto longer, for it brought up many questions for him. He tried to think of someone he _knew_ who had a female zanpakuto, but no one came to mind. It wasn't as if people talked to him about their swords all the time. Then, he remembered something. Urahara Kisuke. Kenpachi was positive he had heard that Kisuke was _known_ for his extra special and obviously _female_ zanpakuto named Benihime.

Kenpachi was too distracted by his ideas of asking Kisuke about Benihime later, and didn't notice Zanikko drifting off into her own world as well. She then scowled, shaking her head as if to rid herself of troublesome thoughts, and cleared her throat, regaining Kenpachi attention.

"Moving on. I just wanted to demonstrate the different exceptions to the rules. Particularly because you are the biggest exception of all." She stopped for a minute and stared at him, evaluating him up and down before continuing, "You really _should not _be as strong as you are. It's nearly impossible. See, I think of the zanpakuto as something that not only gives a soul reaper more power... I think we create a sense of stability within our master's soul."

Kenpachi listened intently to her words, hoping to find some sort of meaning behind them. It was hard to do, as he wasn't the brightest, and Zanikko was throwing confusing and spiritual stuff at him. He tried to focus and interpret it in a way that related to him, but he still came up short. The most he could see was that maybe... he wasn't stable at all, and was destined to never have a zanpakuto look after him and help him become stronger.

"Its not just the raw power or special moves that a zanpakuto gives it's master..." Zanikko spoke with enthusiasm now, letting her own feelings about the bond between zanpakuto and master flow forth, "it's about the connection, a deep connection that can never be replaced or broken. The idea that you could have so much power... and yet be so alone, carrying the weight of that power alone, is... frightening."

Kenpachi laughed at her. "I'm supposed to be frightening. I'm a fighter! I intimidate my foes by being scary."

She closed her eyes and walked closer to him. She stopped in front of him and trailed her hand up his chest, not touching him until she reached his face. Kenpachi could say nothing as he stared down into her caring face.

"It matters not to the soul what the body is made of."

"What's with the proverb? Didn't think you were a 'wisdom' kind of person." Kenpachi replied, interested in why she was putting off the kind of airs that she was towards him. She backed away, giving him a sexy smile.

"I'm not, I'm a little more like you, all about the violence. But what I say is true. You might not want to assume that just because you act all tough, your soul is the same. Every spirit is different, and there may be some unforeseeable circumstances you can't predict."

"Like what...?" Kenpachi's eyes narrowed. He felt like Zanikko was trying to hint at something, considering the way she was acting and speaking.

"Hm... maybe a zanpakuto acting different from what you'd expect, more human. One that's harder to control than another, or easier. There could be a zanpakuto that tests not just it's master's fighting skills but it's style as well. I've even heard of zanpakuto spirits who's tests are nothing more then intelligence tests, based on cunning and mind-power. It depends on the type of zanpakuto, I think. Of course, we both know the best type of zanpakuto is melee-type. No tricks, just raw... _power!_"

There was something unnatural about the way she said the word power, as if it were alive, and something to be revered. It gave Kenpachi an uneasy feeling, and it was a feeling he knew he should trust. Yet, he remembered as he glanced again at the seed figured she used to explain things, he needed to know more... and it was all just beginning to get interesting.

"I need to go." he said, suddenly remembering Yachiru who had never followed him through the entrance.

This snapped Zanikko out of her 'power' trance, and she smiled unhappily at Kenpachi, annoyed that she did not get farther throughout the night.

"Will you be back tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Kenpachi just saw her seeds drop listlessly to the ground as he turned and headed away from her garden, back to Yachiru and the main graveyard. He ignored Xin's happy wave and intently walked through the archway, focused entirely on asking Yachiru one question. Before he was even all the way through the barrier he started loudly,

"Why didn't you follow- YACHIRU!"

* * *

**I somehow made this a cliffhanger... I don't even know how I did that... hm.**

**Well, I now LIVE in Florida, so be expecting some fast-ass updates from me(as I have nothing better to do). I guess in this case it's a good thing. **

**Sorry this story is progressing so slowly... XD I'm sure it will pick up soon! Please be patient! **

**KeikoPanda102**


	13. Chapter 13: Blah

Chapter 13: Blah

Yachiru's hair had always been a subject of curiosity for people. Bright, bubble-gum pink(although if you ask Yachiru, it's cotton candy pink), with cute, little-girl curls in just the right places. Yachiru loved the color, and she always wished her Ken-chan would say that he liked it too. Yachiru's temper rarely flares up at little things, but her hair was something she would defend until the end. She would avoid humid places sometimes so it wouldn't frizz and lose it's softness, she even cried once when Ikkaku spilt spoiled milk on her head and it got all in her hair. Of course that situation was easily fixed with a shower and lots of bleeding on Ikkaku's part.

Point is, Yachiru is _very_ protective of her hair.

Which is why, when Kenpachi came through the archway and appeared in the middle of a battle between the same strange enemies Yachiru was fighting the night before and a blood-soaked Yachiru, including dripping, crimson hair, our number 11 captain was left screaming Yachiru's name out of surprise and worry.

"Yachiru! What the fuck happened to you!"

Without looking away from her opponents, Yachiru called back to him in a rushed tone,

"I'm busy right now Kenny!"

Kenpachi grunted then stopped to take in his surroundings. There were three of the strange hollow's tonight, all attacking Yachiru at once, leaving her no time to effectively fight back. Kenpachi then noticed that two if them were on their last legs, and got the sneaking suspicion that maybe Yachiru ad already taken one of two if them out, considering how drained she looked. This time he did feel a little guilty about leaving her, especially since it was clear she didn't not approve of his nightly wanderings among he zanpakuto spirits.

He unsheathed his own sword and tried to intervene in Yachiru's battle. She turned to him and growled, flashing angry, pink riatsu at him.

He took a step back, surprised. When, only a moment ago, she looked exhausted, now she was fighting harder than before, and winning. She used a tricky kido to kill the weakest one, then she found a way to crush both of the swords of the last two, leaving them defenseless. Kenpachi thought her face when she delivered the final blow was truly thrilling, full of unspoken words and emotions.

As she walked over to him, dragging her zanpakuto behind her with a drooping arm, Kenpachi asked,

"You looked like you were losing before, how did you win so quickly?"

She just turned to him, giving him a look of restraint and anger, then took a deep breath.

"Ken-chan doesn't understand."

"What does that even-?"

Kenpachi was cut off for the second night in a row, by the arrival of their friends. Rangiku was first to notice that important things,

"YACHIRU!" she gasped, horrified, "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR!"

Both her and Orihime rushed over and crowded around Yachiru, trying to clean her up and get the story at the same time. It frustrated Kenpachi that he didn't even know how come she was so covered in blood. He figured it was pretty obvious how it happened, but he still wanted to hear Yachiru explain it. Besides, it wasn't like her to get so cut up.

She passed out before they reached Urahara's china shop again, but this time Rangiku ended up carrying her to bed, not him. It was really starting to mess with his head, her attitude towards him. She had never acted this way before, not once since he had found her. He wondered what it could possibly be, and worried about what he would do if it were really his fault.

Later on that evening he would blame all his fruitless worrying on his excessive _Jui*_ drinking, and try to distract himself from thoughts of his bubble gum-topped partner by asking Urahara about his Benihime.

*Chinese alcohol, but you probably figured that out. XD

Although it could have been from HIS excessive Jui drinking, when asked about his relationship with his very own sword, Kisuke's face flushed significantly. He wrapped his arm around Kenpachi's broad shoulders and said sloppily in his ear,

"Lemme tell YOU bout Benininine... She's soooo pretty. Like, you don't even know. She could be a goddess, or sumfin, and I would totally worship her and... stuff. She's got a few forms though, right? Cuz you know, well, you don't know, but like, zanpakuatow, can have a different form sometimes, they can change. I dunno why, but they like to change their formals-formens- formses. ALLLLLLL a Benihime's forms are super gorgemous. AND SHES STRONG TOO! But not like normal... you might not like her..."

Kenpachi remembered how the umbrella-shaped zanpakuto from the graveyards changed shape, and even the two water-dragon kids. Kisuke's ranting about how pretty his zanpakuto spirit was, was starting to get to Kenpachi. It'd been a while since he had been with a woman, and he was the kinda guy who didn't like to get backed up. The alcohol wasn't helping his situation, and it was turning his mind to mush. In fact, before he could even act on his urge, he passed out, only to dream of having a beautiful woman as his zanpakuto spirit, a woman with a cheerful face and blushing hair...

* * *

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Zanikko laughed when Kenpachi arrived, looking more than a bit under the weather, at her gardens the next night. He had woken up late, and with a splitting headache, not to mention Yachiru wouldn't talk to him at all on the way to the graves.

"I don't have a lot of time today, so skip to the lecturing." he snapped, planning on making it back to help Yachiru fight the strange enemies instead of leaving her again.

His disregard of her left a bad taste in Zanikko's mouth, and completely spoiled her good mood. She tried to stop from snarling as she asked,

"And _why_ are you so short on time today? If you're busy, just don't come at all."

"It's not important to you." Kenpachi said hastily, "I'm just trying to be a good... captain."

Zanikko pouted, her bad mood just getting worse. Then, she got an idea.

"Zaraki?" she asked. Kenpachi looked up, realizing this was the first time she had used his name. "Do you know why I even agreed to teach you these things about zanpakuto?"

"Why?" he grunted.

"I felt bad- but not for you." she said sternly. "Do you have any idea what you have done to your zanpakuto by ignoring it all these years?"

She waited for him to say something, but all he did was stare down at his sheathed sword curiously. She huffed and turned her back on him, tending the flowers in her garden out of frustration.

"By now, _if_ it still wants anything to do with you, it is probably in so much pain it can't even think. **We do not like to be ignored by our masters.**"

"I'm not ignoring it anymore. I'm tryin' to get it to give me it's power." he argued.

"Do you not hear? I said it's in so much pain it probably doesn't even know the different between you ignoring and you caring. That... or it isn't there at all."

"...What?" Kenpachi asked slowly.

Zanikko lowered her gaze but turned back to him as she spoke softly,

"No one can sense the spiritual pressure of you're sword, and it _should_ have it's own, distinct energy. It's as if it isn't there at all, like it disappeared or vanished or... something worse. You may have... killed it."

Pain crashed down onto Kenpachi the likes of which he'd never felt before. But, it wasn't the kind of pain he was accustomed to, it wasn't physical pain, the kind he felt quite often. It was even beyond emotional pain, because try as might to deny he felt emotional pain, he had experienced much of that too. This was a very undefinable pain, like separation. He felt like a part of him cried out in distress and tore threw to his strongly protected heart. And then, out of the pain he felt something, something that made him speak up in defense,

"No." He stated flatly, causing Zanikko to narrow her eyes in curiosity. "My zanpakuto spirit isn't dead. It's just not with me right now."

"You know that, but you don't know where it is?" She asked.

He nodded. Zanikko sighed, turning back away from him. She didn't say anything for a few moments, then she spoke up, her voice trying to suppress the meaningfulness of her words.

"What if I told you... you didn't have to worry about learning all this stuff about zanpakuto? What if I knew a way for you to have a zanpakuto and all the strength and power you could ever want? Because I do know."

The excitement was building inside Kenpachi Zaraki again. Just the thought of how much power a real zanpakuto would bring him sent shivers down his spine. Frankly, he _was_ tired of learning these things, and was tired of struggling with something he felt like he had no power over. He was tired of being the exception, the only one who couldn't even figure out the name of his sword.

If Zanikko had an answer, an easy, simple solution...

He would take it.

* * *

**OK. So... sorry this chapter sucks and is also really late. I think... I think the next chapter will be better. GOD! I'm just sick of this, lol. I have a plan for this story but without all this slowness in the beginning it won't work! So I have to muddle through until I can finally get to where I want to be. Anyway... thanks to everyone for sticking with this even though it is very slow. Like, **_**really, really**_** slow. XD**

**KeikoPanda102**


	14. Chapter 14: Bargain

Chapter 14: Bargain

Just as Kenpachi's broad shoulders turned the corner to exit her garden, Zanikko dropped her cheery smile and spoke to the unidentified figure hiding in the bushes behind her,

"What are you doing here, Kibishii?"

Out of the shadows stepped the zanpakuto spirit who had accused Kenpachi of not being a captain. Her black bun was pulled back and the moonlight shone against it, giving it a sleek look. She walked towards Zanikko slowly as she replied,

"I am trying to decide whether you are really this selfish."

Zanikko didn't say anything, and returned to tending her flowers. Kibishii let her anger grow.

"You promised! You said you would help us and now you're going to abandon-"

"I am NOT," Zanikko took a breath and her voice level went back to normal, "...going to abandon you. Any of you."

"It's all your fault that we are stuck like this." Kibishii whispered before leaving the garden, "It's your fault. _Remember that._"

Kenpachi walked through the archway, a happy pep in his step. Finally he had a plan, something he could accomplish. It was better than the answers he was looking for, he was taking action! He felt closer than ever to finally discovering what was so great about having a zanpakuto spirit that was his and could give him all the power he ever desired. He didn't even worry about whether or not he would like it. He believed that because it would be his, it would be perfect for him.

And all his happiness was due to Zanikko. He felt like she was his teacher, and then she became his guide, giving him all the things he'd desired when he came to her graveyard garden just a few days before. With her help, he could finally fight on the same level as Ichigo and the others. He could care less about the meaningful 'connection' between master and zanpakuto everyone had been going on about. His one weakness was about to disappear.

In the past, Kenpachi Zaraki never believed himself to have _any_ weaknesses, not one at all. In fact, he had to make up his own weaknesses just to fight fair with someone, like his signature bells and eyepatch. It was only after new, stronger opponents began appearing before him did he realize he did have weaknesses; he lacked the element of surprise. With him, what you see is what you get, he had no tricks up his sleeves and no technique to catch anyone off guard with. He could only use his own raw power to fight, and defeat, his enemies. It used to be enough, but was slowly becoming problematic and down-right annoying.

The best way he could think to do that was to take hold of a previously untapped power source he knew he had inside him; his zanpakuto.

BREAK

The night was a chilly one for summer, and Yachiru had goosebumps from sitting still and letting the breeze whip around her thin figure. She hadn't been attacked by the usual monster's yet, and was bored out of her mind just sitting around doing nothing. She would have greatly enjoyed being with her Ken-chan, but she wasn't quite done giving him the cold shoulder for abandoning her for a few nights in a row. Besides the fact that he still hadn't figured anything out.

Not that she really expected him to. She knew who he was, the kind of person he was, better than anyone. He chose power and fighting over everything and rarely looked past that part of a conversation.

Still, she really wanted him to try a little but harder this time, for her sake. Yachiru knew that might be asking a bit much from him, but she still had hope. Something told her the time was swiftly approaching when he would finally understand, one way or another.

The moon rose ever higher in the sky the later into the night it grew. Yachiru, having zero patience for boredom, felt that the best thing to do at a time like this was to fall asleep. She figured that she would sense the creatures when they came to fight her again and had nothing to fear from a short nap. Perhaps by the time she woke up, Ken-chan would be back.

Seeming as if she had only been asleep for barely a minute, she awoke to find her captain and best friend standing over her with a wide smile that showed his pointed teeth shining in the moonlight. Instead of popping up with a warm greeting like he had expected her to, she just closed her eyes and rolled over, growling at him not to wake her for a few more minutes. Then, he remembered that, no matter how happy she was to see him, she was never in a good mood when she woke up. Of course Kenpachi's mood was too good to let her bad one bring him down. In one move he swooped down and picked up, placing her back down in his lap as he took a seat on the ground where she was just laying. She sent him a small glare then curled up against his chest, murmuring through his kimono,

"I'm still mad at you Kenny."

"You're just stubborn is what you are." was Kenpachi's only retort.

"So is Ken-chan!" Yachiru yelled back. Then she giggled, her laughter fading slowly leaving silence hanging n the humid summer's air. Kenpachi waited a few moments to see if she would ask him anything or yell at him for whatever it was she was mad about. Finally he grew impatient and exhaled a puff of air from his nose.

"Aren't you even a little bit wondering where I've been going for the past few nights?"

"No."

He never got to ask her why she was being so annoying, because the next second after she had answered, Yachiru hopped up off of his lap as they both felt the presence of the strange enemies upon them. Kenpachi was far less distracted by their arrival as Yachiru was. He merely huffed from his nose again while standing up slowly and yawning as he drew his sword against the bizarre creatures.

Yachiru, having gotten much better at fighting the quick and agile monsters over the last few nights she had had to go against them alone, took out 2 with a double kido attack. There were at least 20, maybe more, Kenpachi noticed as he shredded one and barely dodged the nearly invisible blade of another.

Suddenly, they stopped attacking one on one, advancing on a surprised Yachiru and causing her to double her defense speed in the effort to keep the 5 or 6 of them at bay. She thought they had grown stronger individually as well as increased in number since her first night on guard. If only they weren't so quick she would take care of all of them in minutes. She found herself with her back up against a tombstone and could only keep the monsters at bay with her own spiritual pressure at max.

Kenpachi would have liked to help her out somehow, but he was having issues of his own. It seemed like more than 10 of the zanpakuto wielding creatures had chosen to attack him all at once. It wasn't quite enough to overwhelm him, but he had to at least keep focused if he wanted to take any of them out. The most annoying thing about them to him was that they showed absolutely no fear of death, so their attacks weren't restrained and when they dodged it was only to attack from a different angle. He drove his sword through the skull of one of them and in that one second of offense three of the others surrounded him from behind and repeatedly attacked, trying to breakthrough the shield he had from his spiritual pressure.

He found it annoying that these creatures were so weak they couldn't even touch him and yet we causing him to fight rather fiercely to keep up with them. He growled as he turned around and sliced through the three at his back. Just as he did he heard Yachiru growl similarly from the back of her throat as she blasted every single monster back with the force of her anger. He smiled, showing points of white from within his mouth. He almost felt his own strength rise as she lashed out in anger at her attackers. He wanted to join her, not help her, just fight along side her and watch the way she moved and the way she fought. She was very much like him some times. She just loved to fight, to kill. He even forgot for a moment that she was apparently mad at him for something he didn't understand.

There was one of the strange creatures attacking Kenpachi's back furiously and then without warning it dropped to the ground. A few of the others that were around Yachiru followed after the first and disappeared as they were struck down by some invisible force. Said invisible force turned out to be their friends, landing beside them and taking the last two of the enemies out who were still too surprised to try and defend themselves. Yachiru was quick to sheath her sword but Kenpachi glanced down at his and shrugged before he mimicked her action.

"Oh," Xin was the first one to speak as he stepped out from apparently hiding behind a thin tree who's leaves had all abandoned it months ago due to dehydration, "And here I thought you two had them on the run. Guess you needed some help."

"You're annoying." Yachiru puffed out her cheeks at him as Rangiku knelt beside the child-like girl and straightened each hair that had gotten out of place during her fight. She quickly wiggled out of her grasp and up onto Kenpachi shoulder where her light grip made a funny memory pop into the front of his mind.

_Flashback:_

_Yachiru didn't like being someone's doll. She liked to be touched and to touch others, physical contact was a must when dealing with Yachiru, but she had limits, and they stemmed from one particular instance. _

_Kenpachi had just become captain by defeating and killing he previous 11th squad captain. He was never the type to celebrate, even if he was having a rather good day. Yachiru on the other had was bouncing off the brand new walls of their brand new room as she told Kenpachi over and over in vivid detail exactly how he looked in every great moment of his battle. It was one of her habits to recount his victories, and even his defeats if he asked her to(for future reference), and this battle was no exception. She believed it was his greatest fight yet, but of course she said the same thing about all of his victories. Then, of course, she told him very commandingly that she was hungry, so they left to get food in the 11th squad lunch room for the first time._

_Kenpachi had to quickly grow used to attention when he became a figurehead such as squad captain, but that is not to say he likes it. The good thing, he noticed, was that most males seemed rather scared of him, and therefor left him alone. The bad thing, he also noticed, was that because of Yachiru, it seemed impossible for him to be intimidating to women. There weren't many females in the 11th squad, mostly because of their rough and tough ideals, but the girls that were there were more than happy to welcome Yachiru among their ranks. _

_She looked even smaller, younger back then, and no one said anything when she sat on top of the table instead of in a chair to share her plate of food with the new captain. The girls, plus a delighted Yumichika swarmed her, surrounding her so much Kenpachi could only see the top of her pink head as he relaxed in his seat and ate his lunch in silence. Yumichika had of course already known Yachiru before, and the other girls had seen her, but somehow now that she was part of their squad they felt they could get close to her, Yumichika was just following out of boredom. _

_They looked like they were examining every inch of her body from where Kenpachi was sitting. They played with her hair, her eyes, her face, and he was fairly sure the squeak he heard was from when they pierced her ears. Kenpachi finished his meal and was waiting impatiently for Yachiru to push all of her admirers aside. It took a few minutes, but finally one of the girls said something that pushed the young vice-captain over the edge. Zaraki heard it loud and clear, and the moment he did he knew to take a protective step back._

_"Oh Yachiru, you're the cutest lieutenant we've ever had! All the others were tough, but you're so small and sweet you can't be strong like them."_

_That poor, misinformed girl never looked the same since. All Kenpachi remembered was a great pink light then laughing continuously until Yachiru hopped up onto his shoulder and smiled like she was very proud she could make him laugh so hard. _

_Flashback End_

It was a nice memory, he thought as she pulled on one of the bells in his hair. But then again, he had a lot of nice memories with Yachiru...

**OK, so, next chapter I think like ten super crazy things will happen. lol. Please keep reviewing and reading!**

**KeikoPanda102!**


	15. Chapter 15: Bail

Chapter 15: Bail

For the next week and a half, Kenpachi didn't go through the archway to the mysterious garden graveyard of soul reapers, just as Zanikko told him to do. He stayed with Yachiru and fought every night as the increasing number of strange enemies surrounded them in Ziari section of the giant graveyard. Yachiru was suspicious at first, but she never asked him once why he wasn't leaving her like he had been doing when they first arrived on their mission. This kinda pissed Zaraki off! He wasn't used to being ignored by the only person he ever really considered family. The others had noticed his pouting and Yachiru's attitude towards him, but they were all so depressed with being forced to fight in a graveyard every single night that they couldn't bring themselves to really care enough to ask about it.

There was some sort of air between the pink wonder and her captain that neither of them could seem to name. Kenpachi was so busy worrying about it, he nearly forgot what day he was waiting for, and why he was waiting for it. He only remembered when Ichigo announced to all of them why they should be more on-gaurd the next few days.

"As you all've probably noticed, as the month goes on, the stronger the strange creatures we're fighting seem to get. Not to mention, more of them come from out of nowhere and attack us with more ferocity and less fear. It takes more to kill them and even when you do, it seems like more just start to spring up right after one falls."

Ichigo sounded tired, they were all tired. The same routine was wearing on them, and even though they didn't want to admit it, what Ichigo said was right; the hallow-beings were getting stronger, harder to kill. Every night they all spent more and more time defeating them, and still without a clue as to why. Why were they there in the first place? What were they doing? And why did they attack the soul reapers for no reason? Even Kenpachi, who normally cares little who or what he is fighting, was beginning to become frustrated by their lack of knowledge on the enemy.

"Uryu has been talking with the graveyard brothers and they've found some sort of connection between some of the graveyard myths and the creatures behind the attacks. Long ago it was said that when too many souls of the dead are together in one place, they will become crowded, and come back to life to find a way to get some space. There was some connection to the moon and an unnamed "mystical power of evil" that would give them the power they needed to fully awaken. Then there was something in the myth about about a secret graveyard that is invisible to nearly all people and would be the place where the mystic power of evil resided. We've been looking for it, but as I said, it's a secret graveyard so we probably won't be able to find it. Those annoying graveyard guards haven't been helping any either.

"Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that perhaps the strange things we've been fighting are the tormented, twisted souls from the myth, but that's just not it! I think there has to be something more, something we're missing. I'll bet it has to do with the secret graveyard and mystical power the myth talks about."

Kenpachi felt a nudge against his knee and looked down, only to find Yachiru glaring up at him with all she had. It took him a whole minute to put it together for himself. Secret graveyard. Of course. He had always thought it was strange that the huge zanpakuto inside the archway couldn't be seen from outside, nor any of the graves or the garden. It was because they were invisible unless you went inside them! Secret! Just the like myth said. When Kenpachi finally figured it out he looked down at Yachiru blankly and shook his head. He wouldn't tell anyone about where he'd been going. It might hinder his chances of getting Zanikko to help him unlock his zanpakuto spirit, and that was something he so desperately desired at this point, he would not risk it. Yachiru's eyes widened, then she stood up and walked out of the room, casting a disapproving, saddened glance at her best friend before heading into the kitchen.

No one noticed their exchange or when she left. Uryu had picked up where Ichigo left off, discussing how they would use walkie-talkies the next few nights to be extra sure that no one was in extreme danger. Kenpachi only tuned in half-way to the last bit.

"The full moon is coming up, and you all must realize that means the beings we are fighting will be at their strongest. Also, that same night is the Day of Remembrance. I'm sure none of you remember what Xin said when we first went and got a tour, but there is a parade for the dead that night, so we must work extra hard to make sure no innocent by-standers, and especially children, are harmed. If something was going to happen, that would be the night that it would. It's only two nights away, so we must be vigilant and try to get some more clues into finding a way to stop whatever may happen before it does."

Everyone nodded and then they all got up. All of them besides Uryu, Chad, and Orihime left their gigais and headed towards the great China graveyard to prepare for the expected fight of the night, hoping that the enemies they faced this night's powers wouldn't catch them off guard and leave them defenseless.

By the end of the night they had little to worry about. The power was growing, but they were still far superior to the strange graveyard creepers. The battles were getting longer, with each fighter being more fatigued by the end, but they were still able to win without more than tiny cut or bruise here and there. Kenpachi and Yachiru's battle was the longest, at least to him. The fact that Yachiru had cut off all conversation with him, including body language and touching(she hadn't ridden on his shoulder since her sad look earlier that night), made every swing of his blade seem heavier, clumsy. He hated it, but somehow he just felt that if he waited and unlocked his zanpakuto spirit, everything would work itself out.

Of course, that didn't stop it from stinging when Rangiku carried her sleeping figure home that night, on her request so she didn't have to walk home or have Kenpachi(whom, now, all the others could tell she was mad at) carry her. Kenpachi sulkily went to sleep right away that night, without dinner or even a drink with the rest.

While he slept he dreamt; he was in a world with a cool breeze and the softest grass conceivable billowing around his knees. Then, as he looked around the strange world, he saw something moving far off in the distance, it's figure so small that the grass completely covered it and all he could see was the rustling and the smallest flash of pink. He chased after it, but quickly became sleepy as everything in this world was so very soft and gentle, caressing his body and filling his head with a pleasant lightness. Why was he running so fast in the first place? This grass beneath his bare toes was softer than the sheets on his bed. Why not just lie down and forget about the rustling? So he did, and just as he closed his eyes in the dream world, he opened them in the real one.

Kenpachi had never given much thought to his past dreams, and he gave the same to this one. He had a lingering feeling he'd done something wrong, but ignored it. Dreams were, after all, nothing but a figment of the imagination. They wouldn't help him become stronger or have a good fight. What Kenpachi didn't realize was that he had in fact had this dream more than once, he'd had this same dream maybe hundreds of times, but this was the very first time he'd ever remembered it once he woke up.

As he walked into the kitchen and got some coffee he spotted Yachiru frowning down at her oatmeal. He smiled and was about to go to her and tell her to cheer up, but then he remember why she was frowning. It was his fault, after all. His mood turned sour and he took his cup, quickly making his way to another room.

Yachiru's frown, the one she had shown him only a moment before, wasn't like her normal frown. Usually, her frown could also be described as a pout, and was rarely serious. See, frowning is what one does when one doesn't like something that has happened, but they can also do nothing about it. Kenpachi had never before seen any time when Yachiru didn't like something that she could do nothing about. She was a very proactive person, and if she did not like something, she always, _always_ did something about it.

So for her to be sitting, frowning over her untouched breakfast... well, something was very wrong...

Another day passed without Kenpachi even feeling alive. He was just going through the motions, but nothing felt right to him, not without Yachiru there to share it with. He spent all of his time racking his brain, trying to come up with the reason she was so angry- no, disappointed. She was disappointed in him, or something he had done.

Who knows how long he would have stubbornly gone on, lacking the courage to ask her why she was angry with him, and not having the brain to figure it out himself. Fortunately(or unfortunately as the case may be), the next night was the night destiny decided to suddenly reveal itself to Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru Kusajishi.

Destiny, though, has a strange way of making itself known. Some have even said that destiny was a curse, but of course whoever said that was just too close-minded to except his fate. Surely the same wouldn't be true of our heroes as well, right?

**OKAY! Next chapter is finally the finale! XD I promise, if you have suffered through this entire story, the ending will have been worth it! Thanks for reading with me so far!**

**KeikoPanda102**


	16. Chapter 16: Benign

Chapter 16: Benign

"Today is the Day of Remembrance. Do we all understand what that means?"

Ichigo was never one to give a pep-talk, something that Rangiku quickly realized, and took over herself, pushing the substitute soul reaper aside and continuing where he'd left off.

"The parade starts at eight, right Uryu?"

Said Quincy nodded, and Rangiku smiled.

"Tonight is the night, guys! You aren't putting together what this means, you know! There's a good chance that whatever we've been fighting will show its true form tonight. We beat it, save the people in the graveyard and whatever souls might have been affected, and then we can go home! No more sulking around creepy dead people at night! No more worrying about weird creatures! The mission will be over~!"

This did cheer everyone up an awful lot. Especially Kenpachi, who was only thinking now about what was waiting for him inside the secret zanpakuto graveyard; his own zanpakuto spirit, promised to him by the queen of zanpakuto's herself. Not to say Kenpachi was a very trusting person, but he hadn't even had the slightest inclination to suspect Zanikko of anything besides keeping her word. He also felt that there was some sort of connection with discovering his sword's soul and reconciling with Yachiru. Well, I suppose he was _sort of_ right.

The group left early, the sun was just about to set when they reached the Xiari. It was different for all of them to only be in one section of the graveyard, but they knew it was safer for the children and villagers if they all stayed together to protect them instead of splitting up.

When Kenpachi first heard that this was the plan he became a bit nervous. How would he get away to the garden if everyone was with him? They would no doubt want to know where he was going, and Yachiru wouldn't help him by making up a story like she usually would because she was still in a bad mood.

Of course, once they reached the largest section of the graveyard, he discovered that sneaking away to the gardens wouldn't be much of a problem.

"My goodness!" Orihime exclaimed as they looked around, seeing nothing for what seemed like miles but people! People in groups, having lovely little conversations amongst themselves. People with picnic blankets and food lined up where the parade would most likely go through. People simply wandering around reading inscriptions on the graves when they had them. The world's largest graveyard had never looked smaller with so many people.

For the first time, the group of soul reapers felt like they were really in China. Just as the sun sank below earth, fireworks started going off, candles were lit, and hundreds of smells bombarded the air.

Orihime, Rangiku, Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, Hitsugaya, Kenpachi and Yachiru stared open-mouthed until Xin snuck up behind them and said cheerfully,

"Imagine what it's like to clean up after all this."

Uryu whipped around swiftly.

"You said this was just small parade!" he looked livid.

"Did I say that?" Xin smiled. "Are you sure it wasn't Yin? He loves to underestimate things like this."

Ichigo looked as if he were about to explode, he had drawn in air in preparation for an either loud and/or long rant about some nonsense. He never got to start, though, because Xin cut him off by adding,

"The Day of Remembrance is much like a festival, or at least, that's what it's become over the years. We used to tell the people that it wasn't right to celebrate in such a way with so many dead bodies around, but alas, modern ethics are lacking, and it has turned into _this_." He motioned to the chaos beyond them. "I don't see how it would be a problem to you all though. A few extra people wouldn't get in the way of your duties, would they?"

Ichigo, Uryu, and even Hitsugaya hurried to explain just how much of a problem all the people and madness going on around them could be. Kenpachi wasn't interested though. He was growing anxious.

He was _this close_ to having his very own Zanpakuto spirit. He was sure none of the people around would be able to get into the soul reaper graveyard, not if it was "secret" like Uryu had said, so he shouldn't have anything to worry about there. he also didn't think whatever might happen that night would affect him at all. It would just be more fighting of some boring, weak, unnamed creatures, right? He barely thought he even had to be there. In fact, the sooner he got his zanpakuto spirit, the better, and then he would have more time to make up with Yachiru and everything would just be better. In reality, he just wanted his anxiety to be gone. Kenpachi Zaraki was not a patient person.

It was easy to sneak away from the group, and since he wasn't in his gigai, none of the festive humans noticed him crossing their paths. The one and only thing that ended up blocking his way into the archway(the area around it was mysterious less congested with people), was Yachiru.

He wasn't surprised to see her standing in front of the entrance pleadingly. He maroon eyes gleamed and she didn't have to say one thing for Kenpachi to understand what she meant,

"_Please don't go in there, Kenny._"

He hesitated, but only for a moment. Lifting her up carefully, and avoiding her gaze as determinedly as possible, he placed her gently out of his way. Before going though, he asked softly,

"Why don't you come with me?"

It was vulgar curiosity more than anything that made him ask, and he knew the answer he would get before she even said it.

"Can't!"

He nodded sternly and stepped though, trying to shake off the ominous worry she had sprouted inside him. He barely had time to continue wondering why Yachiru would be so opposed to his acquiring a zanpakuto when he heard his name being called barely a few feet away.

"Kenpachi Zaraki!"

His head jerked up, surprised to hear that voice so suddenly, when she was usually all the way in the center of her garden, tending some frilly flower in the moonlight.

Now when he saw Zanikko, she was not tending flowers, instead adjusting small piles of fluorescent dust, the same kind Zanikko always used when trying to explain something to Kenpachi. There were a few piles beneath the tall sword sculpture underneath which the zanpakuto queen herself was standing, hands on her hips, looking impatient. Underneath her impatience she also looked excited, more excited than even Kenpachi felt. He found it strange that she would be the one who was excited but shrugged it off as being unimportant.

"Is everything going good?" he asked as he stepped closer to her. He noticed that she was very nearly human looking under the brilliant full moon, where before she was almost a shadow, a ghost, like the rest of the zanpakuto spirits he had first seen.

In fact, he noticed when he glanced around momentarily, that a lot of those same spirits were all watching Zanikko arrange the dust and still whole flowers under the zanpakuto statue. They were keeping themselves well out of the way, something Kenpachi didn't blame them for. He was sure one wrong move and the zanpakuto queen would snap at him so fiercely even he might flinch.

The thing that made the other spirits the most noticeable was because they too were much more solid looking than Kenpachi had last seen them. The two twin dragon children waved feebly from behind a hedge as he waited for Zanikko to instruct him to do something. None of the other zanpakuto were as friendly, in fact, they all seemed to be wearing expressions of quiet nervousness, a few even looked downright fearful.

There was something strange in the air, Kenpachi could finally feel it, although he somehow knew it had always been there, just hidden from him until he got accustomed to it. His head was getting lighter, and just as he was about to question Zanikko, she pulled him over directly beneath the giant zanpakuto, an exuberant smile on her pale, un-human-like face.

"It's time." she cooed. She wasn't looking at Kenpachi, instead she glanced lovingly up at the statue and the moon. Closing her eyes, she began to chant.

Kenpachi, in a normal state, couldn't even begin to understand what she was saying. With his head pulsing from the fragrant air and brilliance of the moon glowering down, he could hear nothing but her mumbling voice and the eery intonation it held beneath it's depths. He caught a few words and phrases every now and then. Things like, "zanpakuto," or "energy," and even, "the time has finally come, Master."

This was when Kenpachi finally spoke up, shaking his head to try and clear some of the muck,

"This'll help me get a zanpakuto spirit, right?" he clenched his own sword in his sweaty palm, for although it was soul-less, it was still his most dear possession, the object closest to his heart.

Zanikko lowered her gaze from the sky, the shadows falling across her angular face in a way that completely distorted it's beauty. She looked like a woman who had just lost her only child, or her dearest love. Kenpachi narrowed his gaze, gripping the handle of his sword in a defensive act. Before he could even stand, he felt the light tickle of the sparkling dust across his face. He tried to shake it away from his eyes and mouth, but as soon as it had touched his skin, it left his entire body completely immobilized.

"Help you find _your_ Zanpakuto? I think not."

His heart thumped in his chest, panic spreading through him faster than Zanikko's wicked smile spread across her face.

"Tonight is the night I will finally be reunited with my one, true Master! Your body is merely here as a vessel for my beloved." She stopped short, answering the question Kenpachi couldn't voice, "The reason you have been chosen has little to do with your strength and nothing to do with your status as Soul Reaper Captain. The sole reason you were chosen for this was because you lack an entire half of your soul."

Kenpachi reeled. He knew a zanpakuto spirit was important, but was it really half of his soul?

"You truly do not understand our significance, do you?" She asked curiously, motioning to herself and the spirits around them. "You are broken. Empty. Lacking. I'm frightfully shocked you've been able to survive this long without part of your soul.

"The ritual I desire to preform this night, is only possible with someone like you. You see... I am still alive, although my Master is dead. This is of course, not of my own choice. Being alive without your other half is- is... well you should be able to understand."

She paused. Kenpachi tried to blast her with spiritual energy, but it seemed paralyzed by the flower dust as well as his muscles. It was indescribable the frustration and anger he felt at being bested this way. Was he not the super powerful captain of the 11th squad? How could he have been captured without even putting up a fight? Alas, he could honestly do nothing but sit and listen to Zanikko, deep hatred burning in his gut.

"There is something about this land..." She mused, frowning at the dirt and shrubs around her. "It keeps us awake, night after night. We don't want to be, and I will admit that it is not only the land on which we were buried, but also due in part to my own power, which I can, of course, do nothing about. Tonight though!" She thundered suddenly, "Tonight is the night I and my fellow half-souls shall be set free! With the return of my master, by means of your body, and the reuniting of us, I can leave these accursed grounds and be free once again, alongside my one and only owner, and the other half of myself.

"I do hope you realize," she started softly, placing a smooth hand on Kenpachi's shoulder, "what a great service you are doing for us, albeit against your will. I do feel awfully bad about lying anyhow. There is never anything an outside force can do when it comes to the relationship between Master and Zanpakuto. Besides, as I have mentioned, it seems to me that you are actually missing a zanpakuto spirit altogether. Bad for you," she said flatly, turning away to pick up another pile of flower dust. "Good for me."

She sprinkled it over his immobilized head, and Kenpachi could do nothing but wait for whatever was to come. He cursed himself for many things, but mostly for not listening to Yachiru. She always knew best. In his last moments, he truly wished she wasn't angry at him. The last few days with her seemed so wasteful because they were in a silly feud, all Kenpachi's fault of course. It took all his strength and consciousness to try and remember every good time he'd had with her before the present moment.

He remembered them sitting quietly on a forested mountain, around a warm fire. She was in his lap, a very nice place for her to be. He loved when she would lay in his lap more than he would like to admit. He remembered how she had taunted him with the name of her sword, never revealing it and cruelly peeking Kenpachi's curiosity.

As the dust settled over his skin, he thought of one last regret; that he never knew what Yachiru's zanpakuto's name was. He was sure it would have been the most perfect name, just as perfect as she was.

"Curses!"

The dust that covered his body felt like liquid that ran like the blood in his veins over his suddenly hyper-sensitive skin. If he could have smiled, he would have shown his sharp teeth in a malicious grin aimed at Zanikko after hearing the frustration in her voice.

"I never expected this... it seems as if you _do_ have a zanpakuto spirit after all..." His heart leapt. Would he somehow survive this, and find his own sword spirit after all?

"It's barely there but I can sense it. It would be no good for my Master to return using your body if I could not join him within it. Damn it all!" She cursed loudly. She took several deep breathes, then stopped. "But what is this...? It seems as if your zanpakuto spirit is somehow _outside_ of your body? But that makes no sense! I've never even heard of such a thing! It's a part of you but it's also... away?"

There was quiet for a few minutes and Zanikko seemed deeply engrossed in something of which Kenpachi couldn't tell. She glanced up at the moon repeatedly, as if checking the time, then back down at him, as if she could seen something there that he could not. Finally, she smiled.

"It seems all my planning will not have been a waste. Your zanpakuto may not be a part of your body, but it has been near you ever since it left. I can still feel traces of it surrounding you."

Kenpachi didn't like where she was going, but he couldn't even contemplate what it was she was saying. He just waited for her to make move, it was all he could do.

"It's still close by!" She announced in a gasp. "If I only destroy it, your body and soul will be mine for the taking!"

He heard the swish of her dress as she turned away in a hurry. In what seemed like the same moment, a thundering crash came from beyond the zanpakuto garden. He heard screams and the voice of what he guessed was another zanpakuto spirit yell,

"Zanikko! The spirits are attacking in huge force tonight! What will you do-?"

It was cut off as Zanikko spit back a reply, "_Once I have been reunited with Master they will be gone. I shouldn't even have to worry about these unimportant things! Out of my way!_"

Kenpachi thought he smelled fire somewhere near, and struggled as hard as he could against the enchantment that bound him. It was to no avail, and he felt that for sure all was lost. His friends and precious yachiru were being attacked and Zanikko was on her way determined to destroy his zanpakuto spirit, the spirit he never even knew! The sounds of battle grew louder until out of nowhere a voice was against his ear.

"I'm going to release you, but you must promise to _kill_ Zanikko."

It was the voice the zanpakuto spirit that had insulted Kenpachi and doubted his captaincy. The tall, pale one with black hair in a tight bun, giving the impression she was a shrewd, strict school-teacher. Kenpachi didn't question why she would betray her fellow zanpakuto spirit, but she explained it anyway,

"All we spirits want to do is join our Master's in eternal sleep. It is Zanikko's powers that keeps us here. If she is gone, there will be peace throughout the entire graveyard, including the monsters that attack your friends now." Kenpachi suddenly felt the dust lifted from his body. He rose from the ground in a feral rage at once, like a caged tiger who was just released from it's chains and set upon his captor.

His spiritual energy exploded as he raced towards the commotion beyond the zanpakuto graveyard. Bursting through the archway and into the heat of battle he saw only three things. His friends were distracted by fighting off the seemingly endless hoard of disturbed spirit enemies, Zanikko was smiling and heading in the direction of Yachiru. Yachiru, who was being held down in the most vulnerable position, her body pushed forward so she was completely open to any attack.

He could see her own spiritual energy swirling pointlessly around her, she was trapped. His eyes flickered back to Zanikko as she advanced, the smile growing on her twisted face. She shouted something at Yachiru, but Kenpachi couldn't comprehend anything but,

Yachiru.

Danger.

Protect.

He held up his uninhabited sword and ran at Zanikko, expecting her to crumble under the immensity of his spiritual energy. She didn't flinch from his attack. She only turned around because she could hear his ferocious scream. She held up one hand and he was halted where he stood. She was stronger than him, and his comrades were too busy to notice his predicament.

"You fool. I am a pure zanpakuto spirit. Purer than you could ever imagine. What in the world would make you think I would be affected by your filthy spiritual energy?"

She turned back towards Yachiru. Kenpachi didn't understand why. He didn't understand anything. Yachiru was right after all. Zanikko raised her palm out towards Yachiru as she said,

"But now, once I destroy this strange thing, my plan will be able to proceed, and I will be with my Master once more!" Her face contorted and her palm began to glow. As the blast left her hand, screeching murderously towards Yachiru, she and Kenpachi screamed simultaneously,

"Now DIE!"

"NOOOOOO!"

But Kenpachi's cry was hollow at the end, even fading as he stared in amazement at the scene before him. It was as if time itself had stopped, just as the deadly blast from Zanikko was nearly a foot from hitting Yachiru straight in her heart, an attack that would surely blast apart her very body.

Kenpachi Zaraki barely had time to register what was happening when he heard a voice. It was familiar, but also so very foreign and strange it sent shivers down his spine. It was coming from the very air itself, and Kenpachi had to hold his breath from the shock when it first spoke.

"Kenpachi Zaraki. Do you know who I am?"

Kenpachi took a moment to think about it. In all honesty, a few different replies came to mind before he realized with certainty that he did indeed known who was speaking to him.

"You're my sword..." He muttered in awe.

"That's right," the voice replied softly. "I have a question for you, Kenpachi Zaraki."

"Yeah?" he asked meekly.

"Yes." There was a pause, then the voice continued, "What do you want most right at this very moment?"

This time he did not have to think long about an answer.

"I want to save Yachiru!"

"You want to save her? Are you sure? Would you not want to have the power you need to fight an age-ending battle with this decidedly powerful enemy? Isn't that what you have always wanted? The power to fight for the thrill of fighting?"

Kenpachi shook his head angrily, he felt as though time was running out, even though it quite clearly wasn't. Every moment he had to look at Yachiru's terrified face was like death to him.

"Nothing matters if Yachiru isn't there! I need to save her! Now!"

A memory suddenly popped into the front of his mind, it should have seemed strange to him to remember it in a moment like this, but as soon as he remembered it, it felt like the perfect thing to do, he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. It was tiny, childlike Yachiru, and she was angry. Her remembered this moment very clearly. He loved this memory. He loved the way she looked when she was angry, when she was passionate about something so much that her eyes would glow and her hair would stand on end in fury. But most of all, Kenpachi loved this memory because of what Yachiru said. He would never, ever forget it;

"_You'll lose if I'm not there!_"

As if the voice in the air could see into his mind and watch the memory it seemed to understand something. The air around Kenpachi became sweet, and he could hardly breath. He didn't resist though, because he knew something had been done right. The voice assured him that his assumption was correct when it giggled a bubbly laugh and whispered as he fell into darkness,

"Right answer..."

**Aaaaand NOW I will finally be able to write the chapter that I've been dying to write since I freakin' started this story! It's really getting close to the end now guys! I promise!**

**Sorry about the long chapter, or... not sorry? Idk. Do you guys like long or short chapters better? I was just trying to fit everything in and make it make sense with my vision. lol.**

**KeikoPanda102**


	17. Chapter 17: Bond

Chapter 17: Bond

The feeling that flowed throughout Kenpachi Zaraki's body when he awoke was a strange one. It was as if he had gone to sleep for a very long time, and was just now waking up, completely rested.

He didn't open his eyes at first. No, he was positive that wouldn't have been the right thing to do. What was the right thing to do? Where was the voice that had called him to this place, wherever it was, and why had it called him there in the first place?

He had many questions, but as he sat up, eyes still shut tight, and left his other senses explore the new world he found himself in(because he knew it couldn't come anywhere close to any world he'd ever seen before), he started to understand a few things.

This place was beautiful, he needn't open his eyes to see it's beauty yet, he could feel it, he could smell it. Oh the feelings! There was softness all around him, beneath his feet and hands and even the air the flowed through his hair. He didn't question when his spikes had come undone, he just registered that his hair was flat now, in its natural shape. Oh the smells! It was like flowers mixed with fresh air and something... something he couldn't quite place. Something that was familiar, just as this place was familiar, but also foreign, just as this place was. It was almost a taste.

He stood up, eyes still closed for a moment, and tried to feel the direction the sun was coming from- but couldn't. The warmth throughout the land(as it was warm, but not too warm, with a soft breeze), was coming from somewhere- everywhere! As he stood there he decided it was most definitely coming from everywhere, and so was the light.

That was when he thought it best to open his eyes. It was time to remember why he was there in the first place.

It was even warmer and more soothing with a visual image to put together with all of the other senses. He looked above at first, only to see a cloudless sky, orangish-pink in color, like sunset- or sunrise? He couldn't tell. There was no sun, just light. He was standing, he noticed when he finally looked down, in the exact center of a circle that was defined by a ring of trees- at least, they looked like trees. Or were they just gigantic flowers with tree-like stems? No, because there were hundreds of voluptuous, cascading, bright pink flowers on each giant tree alone. They were far enough away from Kenpachi so that he wouldn't really have a desire to walk towards them, but he could still see every outline of every flower of the branches. That was easy to do because each plant was big, and so bright, one couldn't miss them even if they were miles away and it was nighttime. Kenpachi had a sneaking suspicion they would glow in the dark is the sun were to ever set(though, obviously, there was no sun).

"That smell must be from those..." he murmured to himself, and was surprised at how smooth his voice sounded here, in this world. It was still his voice, but without all of the anger and fighting spirit he usually held in all of his words.

He looked down, finally, to see tall, tall grass, all the way past his knees, rocking back and forth on the wind that carried the scent through the air that flew across the cloudless sky. He let his hands fall against the blades of grass, but instead of scratchy resistance like on most plants of this kind he has experienced before, these leaves were soft as satin against his fingers. He let out a groan of pleasure just at the feel of them touching his skin so gently, so lovingly.

He could only find one explanation for where he might be, but even that didn't make any sense.

"Kisuke said... a person's spirit realm directly reflected their own personality and the personality of their zanpakuto." He thought about his personality and all he could see was metal, rugged with spikes and dark, grey colors that seep into the skin like blood out of the skin. He let his fingers drape across the wonderful grass again and he had to close his eyes and inhale to stop himself from ripping it right out of the ground and using it as a shirt- because he'd just realized he wasn't wearing one. He looked at the sky again, his hands now locked in their swaying motion, mirroring the blades of grass in the wind, and wondered aloud,

"Why the hell is my spirit realm so damn girly? Not that I'm complainin'. Hey, anyone here?"

"Kenpachi Zaraki, do you still not understand?"

The voice wasn't coming from the air this time. Kenpachi could trace it right back to the biggest, tallest of the trees that was directly behind him. He spun around to see the cascades of flowers opening to reveal what looked like a deep, black hole into the trunk of the huge tree. As the flowers moved back, a low crouching shape could just be seen above the grass, coming out of the hole. It was too far away for Kenpachi to see properly, but his heart raced all the same. The voice was calling to him- he needed to see her with his own eyes! Where had she been all this time, his Zanpakuto spirit? Here, in this wonderland? Was this inside him all along? He didn't think so.

Kenpachi asked none of these questions aloud, instead, choosing a more... straightforward question to ask the shape that was moving languidly through the grass like a serpent through water.

"Why won't you let me see you?"

He was raising his head, trying to make himself taller to see above the grass and farther into the edges of the circle that she was crawling along, teasing him like a cat teases a mouse. He rushed forward, but as soon as he got closer, there was a ripple in the grasses swaying motion, and she was on the other side of the circle.

"Show me what you look like!" He demanded. She just giggled and taunted him more and more until he was tired and once again back in the very center of the circle. The grass was still so soft beneath his bare feet, and since he knew he had no chance of catching her himself, he collapsed on the grass and let the blades massage the muscles of his back and shoulders. He groaned again from the sweet sensation, and then heard her hiss. It sounded like it came from right next to his ear, but when he opened his eyes all he saw was towering green grass around him.

"If I show myself, will you understand?"

"Understand _what_?" he spat. He was tired. He wanted to sleep. He had forgotten why he'd come to this place.

As soon as he realized that he had forgotten something, he remembered everything. He sat up in shock.

"YACHIRU!" he yelled into the light breeze, disrupting the quiet calm.

"Very good, Kenpachi Zaraki. You remembered. What else can I get you to remember...?" her voice was almost like a purr, and again, Kenpachi felt this tinge inside his heart that he should _recognize _the voice, but he couldn't.

"Enough of this! You said I would be able to save her!"

"I did not!" She replied childishly. "I just asked if you even _wanted _to save her."

"Of course I do she's my- my- my..."

"What?" the voice was impatient suddenly, but that only angered Kenpachi.

"God dammit! I don't have time for these games!"

"Wrong!" She giggled. "We have lots of time! All the time we want. Enough time, hopefully, for you to finally understand."

"Understand what?" he whined, tired once again, but this time it was an emotional tiredness instead of a physical one.

"Kenpachi Zaraki, turn around now."

He spun slowly, not wanting to seem to excited and ruin his chances. Standing before him, pressing down the grass around her, was a small, bright pink panther. At least, he thought she was a panther. She was too big to be a cat, but too small to be a large wild cat. So maybe she was just a small panther.

He stared at her. She stared at him. He looked into her wide, magenta eyes, and she looked back. She was waiting, watching, hoping for something. Finally, Kenpachi felt he had nothing left to do but ask,

"What's your name?"

Her cheeks puffed out in anger the moment he spoke, and she turned around, stalking away from him through the grass, mumbling angrily to herself.

"He'll never understand! This whole thing was pointless if he doesn't understand! Stupid, stupid Ken-chan!"

He followed her nervously through the grass for a few feet until she stopped and turned around again, glaring at him.

"What is Yachiru to you?"

He didn't know, so he took a guess.

"She's my best friend."

"Wrong." She took a step back, getting closer to the tree with the hole she had emerged from.

"Then- she's my companion!"

"Wrong again." Another step back. "Think harder!"

"She's my child!"

"Wrong."

"She's my only love!"

Wrong!"

"Please stop!" He begged, sinking down to his knees. "Yachiru is my everything but I don't know what you need to me to say!"

There was a quiet for a moment, then she whispered just low enough for him to hear through the whistling of the wind through the grass,

"Think about... the very first moment you met her. Think about it very hard. Think about what you were feeling. Think."

So he thought. He thought as hard as he could. He remembered the moment like it was yesterday. He had just slaughtered many men, their blood was still soaking his sword. Oh the sensations he was feeling in that moment! He remembered a surge of raw power that felt like it came from within his very soul when he killed them. Then, it was all the sudden gone, and in the next moment, there was a small child at his feet, reaching to touch the bloodied weapon he had just killed so many with. Where had this child come from, he asked himself, but it wasn't very important. She was just there, and it felt... right.

What a strange feeling it was! When he looked at her he felt somehow... better? Not a better person or a better fighting or even a better soul, he just felt better like he was more whole.

He only noticed these feelings now, thinking back on the experience. Why had he never noticed before, how Yachiru made him feel? It felt so good! Like soft wind in his hair or the sweet smell of flowers in his nose or the gentle caress of a silky fabric beneath his feet. Those were the kinds of feelings Yachiru gave him when he was near her. And that was when he started to understand.

"You..." he murmured, looking into the familiar pink color that made him feel so warm inside, "Are you... Yachiru?"

**BWAH HA. Love this cliffhanger a hella lot, let me tell you. Hope to update soon, but reviews help that happen!**

**KeikoPanda102**


	18. Chapter 18: Break

Chapter 18: Break

"You are... _starting_ to understand."

"No..." Kenpachi muttered weakly. "I don't get it at all..."

He had so many questions. Where to start?

"Your name..." he began feebly. "I gave Yachiru the name Yachiru, so it can't possibly be the name of my sword, right?"

The pink cat had softness in her eyes. Maybe she would be gentle with him. He needed it now. He didn't know which way was up. If **Yachiru**, his Yachiru, was his zanpakuto spirit, anything could happen.

"What if something inside your own heart told you to name me Yachiru? You just _think _you named me, what if it was already my name? Our situation is special, so we have to think of thing like that-"

"Don't say words like that!" he interrupted, panic consuming him for only the first time since he came to his soul realm. The pink cat was taken aback at his outburst.

"Words like what?" she asked quietly.

"Situation!" he yelled, his large hand coming up to cover his eyes, like he didn't want to see anything before him, didn't want to accept that it was real. "My Yachiru would never say something like that! You cannot be her!"

Yachiru, or at least the creature claiming to be Yachiru, lowered her gaze. She felt bad when he felt bad. It was an awful feeling they were both feeling now. So much confusion, so much turmoil, so much loneliness.

Slowly, she reformed her shape to a more easily recognizable one. Maybe, she thought, he would feel better when she looked more familiar.

She waited, but he didn't remove his hands from his eyes. She giggled, thinking that he looked rather silly hiding his face like that. What could she do to make him open up? She climbed onto his shoulder and he gasped, but didn't remove his hands. Then, she grabbed a small fistful of hair and pulled sharply.

"Yow! Yachiru, that hurts!" He turned around to find the familiar face, the one he knew better than anything else, smiling at him with ease. He relaxed, but not for long.

"See, Kenpachi, I'm the same Yachiru you've known all along!"

With that one slip-up on her part, he growled, and although his love for her physical appearance kept him from causing her any physical harm, he still slowly removed her from his back and placed her on the ground.

"What now?" she asked impatiently.

"You know what." he replied curtly. He didn't want to look at her even more now. She felt like an abomination to him standing there. So much like his Yachiru... but not her at all. Not at all. Was the Yachiru he'd always known and loved a lie all along? He felt his heart break a tiny bit just from that one thought.

"You called me Kenpachi. Yachiru, the real Yachiru would never, ever call me that unless the "situation" was extremely serious. Even _you _should know that."

Then, the little Yachiru in front of him did something that caught him off guard. She lowered her head and gaze and sniffled like she'd been reprimanded. He felt a twinge of regret. Maybe some parts of her were still a bit like Yachiru after all.

"What if this is an important situation?" She asked in a child-like voice, then added, "Ken-chan?"

Kenpachi groaned. How long had it been since he'd heard her call him Ken-chan. She'd been mad at him for days now, not even speaking to him enough to say his name. It felt more like years than days. He held his hand in his head again. Everything was so foggy in this place. What was real? What was true? Nothing made sense.

"Please..." he begged finally, "Please find someway to prove to me that you are my Yachiru. That everything, at least all the important things, are the same as I've always known. Please..."

Kenpachi Zaraki never begs. For anything. To anyone. Except Yachiru. For her, he would do anything.

Why had it taken him almost loosing her to realize that?

She was the most important thing in the world.

Yachiru felt the same things he was feeling. How could she make him understand that? Suddenly, she had a flash of inspiration, and smiled up at him brightly, adding a giggle so he would have to look down and see her with his own two eyes.

"If I tell you the name of my zanpakuto, will you be happy, Ken-chan?"

Against his better judgement his curiosity was definitely peaked. He gulped and nodded slowly. She took a great big deep breath and exhaled out of her mouth determinedly. Then, she smiled as she said simply,

"It's Zaraki. Kenpachi Zaraki." Her smile grew and grew as his eyes opened up in shock to what she was saying. "It's you."

There was no sound for a moment except the wind running through the long blades of silken grass in the meadow. Then,

"YACHIRU! HOW THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME NOT CONFUSED?"

Kenpachi was holding his head in his hands again after he finished screaming. He was starting to get a headache.

Yachiru, after sitting perfectly still for a minute, did the one thing that she needed to do to get her Ken-chan to calm down, and to listen...

She laughed.

Back when everything was normal and they were just relaxing in the soul society with nothing to do, Kenpachi would growl at Yachiru anytime she did something troublesome or annoying, like get them lost or eat all the snacks before eating her dinner. And every time he growled or yelled at her, she could do nothing but laugh at him. His anger wasn't even real when it was directed at her. It was just for fun, not meant to scare her or put her down. Kenpachi could never _really _yell at her. It was impossible. He just couldn't do it.

This yell was just like those were. Not real. Not angry. Just part of Kenpachi's personality. Yachiru couldn't help but laugh at it. There was nothing else she could have done.

When Kenpachi heard her laughter he removed his hands and watched her, his headache suddenly gone. Laughing there, on the ground, so cheerful and light, was the Yachiru he knew and loved. There was no doubt in his mind anymore.

He knelt to the ground as well, still quite a bit higher up than she was, and waited for her to stop laughing. He would listen to what she had to say now. Maybe once he heard everything... maybe then he would understand.

After a minute her laughter stopped and she stared, smiling, into Kenpachi's scarred face. Then, she took his hand and led him to the center of the round meadow. As she laid him down on his back to stare up into the now much darker pink sky, she said,

"Isn't this place nice, Ken-chan? And it's round too! So neither one of us could get lost here!"

He couldn't help but smile along as she laid down right next to him, staring up at the dark sky quietly, until it was time to talk.

"Do you know when I was born, Ken-chan?"

He shook his head.

"When you were born, silly! I'm a part of you. But there was a moment when I became somebody else. Do you know when that was?"

He shook his head again.

"The day you first met the little Yachiru _you_ know. It was right after you had killed all those bad men-"

"But I was bad too. I am bad."

Now it was her turn to shake her head.

"Ken-chan isn't as bad as he thinks he is."

"How do you know?"

"Look around, Ken-chan. We are inside your soul! I _am _your soul! Does this look bad to you? Do _I _ look bad to you?"

"No..." he murmured, a bit embarrassed for even having suggested it at all. "You look pretty good to me..."

Yachiru was suddenly taken aback. Her face grew pink and she shook her head, continuing her story as if she were annoyed that she had gotten off-track so easily.

"Ken-chan had just beat up all those bad men, remember? You know how I know they were bad, and Kenny is good? They were going to do bad things to me if Ken-chan hadn't come along right then. When Kenny killed them, you used a lot of power, don't you remember that at all?"

Kenpachi thought back to that moment, trying to figure out what she was talking about. He remembered coming across the group of wild men, but he didn't remember seeing anyone who looked like Yachiru until after he had killed them.

He remembered that he had started the fight, to test himself, to grow stronger, for something to do, all of the above. They were there, he was there, and his sword was pulsing in his hands, ready to kill. So, he followed his instincts like usual and killed them all. He did... faintly remember a surge of power, right in the middle of the battle. It filled him up, give him strong enthusiasm to keep on fighting. He almost, for a moment, had though he heard a voice. It was so tiny of a memory, he thought that the only reason he was remembering it now was because of the place they were in and the circumstances that were forcing him to remember.

He remembered hearing his zanpakuto calling out his name. Of course, he didn't know, then, that he even had a name, so why would he have listened to it?

It(she, he thought dumbly) enjoyed the bloody murder more than he did, she thrived in it. In that moment when he had murdered those men, the two of them, soul and zanpakuto, were so in sync, his zanpakuto had decided that she finally wanted to be heard by her master. She chose that moment to reveal herself. She was going to tell him her name. That way, they could grow even closer and forever share the bond of killing and the rush of fighting together as one.

But, something happened, as things often do, that interrupted the moment. Kenpachi saw a flash of pink reflected in his blade as blood sprayed through the air and around his feet.

Distracted by the small girl on the side of the battle who was weeping, frightened by everything around her, Kenpachi lost his fighting nerve for one small second.

And as her master changed intentions, so did the zanpakuto spirit that was inside him. The rush of emotion he'd felt just from one small glance at the pink-haired girl was enough to stop his zanpakuto spirit in her tracks and send her crashing back down from the battling high they had both been engulfed in.

Then, the more his zanpakuto spirit, Yachiru Kusajishi, conveniently enough, felt the waves of emotion inside Kenpachi switch from rage and anger to calm and love, the more jealous she grew. The bond of battle she had with her master was all but disappeared! As jealousy overtook her, she tore herself from his body and, determined to receive his love any way she could, sped straight towards that little pink haired child that had so suddenly changed everything.

The last thing that Kenpachi could remember was fierce pain and a tearing at his chest as his sword fell from his hands and he fell into darkness.

When he awoke he was propped up against a rock surrounded by dead bodies and blood. He sat up blearily. His chest ached. Propping himself up on his sword, he sat in the wake of murder and wondered why he felt so empty. Killing had always felt so good, except now. He tried to remember the battle before but he felt that some pieces were missing. Why was he distracted in the middle of the battle?

There was sudden movement directly in front of him. He looked down to see a tiny, bright pink head of hair.

He didn't even remember her from the battle. It was like he was seeing this girl for the first time ever. The rest is history. He named her. He thought he was naming her after the person he'd always admired, but that wasn't quite right. See, the little girl before him was none other than the battle-loving, strong, powerful zanpakuto spirit that had left him in the midst of battle. He just didn't realize that he was naming her just as she should have been named.

"B-bu-b- but- but-!" He couldn't even figure out one word to describe his shock at this whole situation. Yachiru just calmly continued to explain even more loose ends.

"I wasn't just a scare little girl anymore. I had the soul of a blood-thirsty, murderous zanpakuto in me. That's why I wasn't scared of Ken-chan's sword, the sword was part of me!"

Kenpachi just stared at her, seeing her finally in a whole new light. He never would have imagined that it would turn out this way. Yachiru went on.

"Do you wanna know why I never really grow much, Kenny? It's because I can only grow whenever Ken-chan's strength grows. Get it? That's why I'm small. For a while... you weren't growing stronger at all. At least not until Ichi came along. I've grown a little bit since then. Haven't you noticed?"

Kenpachi took a good long look at her and found that she was right! She had grown. He just hadn't noticed it because he was with her all the time. But now that he noticed it, he _really _noticed it. She was more pre-teen than child now. He felt his heart catch. What if he didn't want her to grow up?

She interrupted his sudden barrage of strange thoughts by saying in a soft voice,

"Ken-chan, you still haven't asked the most important thing; how can you use me to become more powerful?"

**Lol, yes. I did listen to your threat. XD It was my favorite review, amon. Thanks, it really got me writing! **

**Sorry this chapter took so long though. :P**


	19. Chapter 19: Bite

Chapter 19: Bite

Hearing her say it was strange, but she was right! The entire reason he was there was so he could get some power enough to save the Yachiru who was in danger in the real world.

"How can you make me stronger?" he asked seriously, sitting up in the field of soft grass.

She smiled. "That's more like it."

She was thoughtful for a moment and he grew frustrated. Now that she had reminded him why he was there he wanted to act! To fight! To do something! Finally she asked,

"How much do you think you know about zanpakuto? I know you were trying to learn more, but you didn't get very far. That Zanikko lady only told you the most unhelpful stuff. And our case is... different."

"Different how?" he asked nervously.

"I'm a girl." She said, looking away. Kenpachi was confused, but then she suddenly turned around and stared at him fiercely.

"Ken-chan! Did you ever think about the day you would have to explain things to me?"

It was a vague question, but this was a question Kenpachi had been asking himself for years. He was taken aback though, because he couldn't figure out why it was important now. He nodded to her, scowling,

"I... was going to have Matsumoto explain it to you, if you ever grew to that stage. I wouldn't be able to do it. Does this mean... do you already know everything? Have you known for a long time?"

She nodded darkly. "I may look like a child but think about how many years I've been alive. And not just me, Ken-chan, the real Yachiru, the one you know, she knows these things to. She just... doesn't care. I can't afford to not care. Sex... it isn't just something you do-"

"Stop it!" Kenpachi reached up, closed his eyes and covered his ears. "I don't hear anything! Yachiru isn't talking about sex! It's not happening! Damn it!"

This did nothing but piss her the fuck off. He wasn't taking this seriously. She went up to him, grabbed both of his cheeks in her small hands, and pulled them out so he was making a funny stretched face. Then, having gotten his attention fully, she yelled in his face,

"Ken-chan has to have sex with me to get my power!"

He let what she said sink in for a moment, then he turned away and murmured so low she could barely hear,

"Then I won't get your power..."

"Don't you want to save me! I'll die if you can't protect me!"

"Even if I didn't save you, i'd never be able to look at you again! Not if I did what- what you're fucking asking me to do!"

"But Kenny," she said darkly, her eyes glowing dangerously. "I'm not asking. I'm telling."

He gulped, backing away from her as she stalked towards him, her teeth bared in an angry snarl.

"Why must you be so difficult, Ken-chan? What is it about me you don't like? Tell me!"

"No, no, no, no you've got it all wrong, Yachiru, I love you! You're my whole world but I-!" He wanted to cry. He'd never had to do something this difficult in his life. He was so confused and he felt like he wanted to rip his heart right out of his chest for causing him so much pain, making him feel this way. "I cannot ever think of you like I think of sex, Yachiru! Sex is dirty and ugly and you are pure and innocent and I just cannot do that to you. No one can _ever _do that to you!"

"No one _can _do it but Kenny! Don't you get it? It's supposed to be like this. Becoming one with your zanpakuto spirit is never easy. Some people have to fight and defeat theirs, other people have to..."

"I would fight you," Kenpachi muttered weakly. "Anything else but this. I would hate to fight you, to hurt you, it would kill me inside, but it would be better than what you want from me. I just can't..."

She smiled at this sadly and replied, "It doesn't work that way, Kenny. Here, I- I have something to show you."

He looked up at her as a bright light began to form around her. Her body slowly grew longer, thinner, bigger in some places. Her hair flowed down her back as well, but it still curled up at the bottom, just like it always had. She was recognizably Yachiru, but she was much, much older, and physically mature. Her body stopped glowing finally, and she looked at him with the same eyes he'd always known, but now they were lust-filled, and sexy. The corners of her lips were turned up in a seductive smile. She started to slide one of the sleeves of her dress off her shoulder.

Kenpachi started convulsing, gasping air until he turned around, hunched over the grassy field, and heaved. His barf disappeared as soon as it hit the soft ground, lie some sort of magic, but Kenpachi didn't feel any better.

His very soul felt violated, ripped in two. It was disgusting, thinking about Yachiru that way. She was his child, his innocent, naive child. But at the same time... he wanted her like he'd never wanted any woman before in his entire life. To hold her in his strong arms, to kiss every inch of her pristine body and to have her call his name. He wanted it so bad he felt like he might die if he didn't have her- but he couldn't! He couldn't touch her or he would ruin her forever!

He was so conflicted, so painfully torn apart with these two different thoughts. They were completely equal; his desire for her body and his hatred at the very thought of it.

"Ken-chan don't- don't be upset, you'll make me upset too..."

"Why?" he groaned as if in pain. "Why are you doing this to me? You're cruel, you're killing me. I'm not strong enough for this, I'm not! Please, please, please just tell me another way!"

"No other way," she replied tearfully. "I'm so sorry. You've got to let go, Kenny. It was always supposed to be this way, from the beginning. This is what Yachiru, the real Yachiru will look like in a few years- but only if you get stronger, Kenny. You have to get stronger!"

Against all of his better judgement he turned to her, staring at the mature body she had transformed herself into. He wished there was something around that he could kill. Killing was so much easier than what she was demanding from him.

He realized why it was this way. It was a test, just like he had been told. He couldn't remember who told him but he'd heard that Zanpautko's must test their masters to see if they are worthy of their powers. Fighting, no matter the shape of his zanpakuto, would not be a test. Fighting, killing, destroying, that type of thing, it all came easy to Kenpachi. There was only raw power involved, and he had a lot of that to spare.

This... this cruel idea that she had put into his mind, the more time he spent in the presence of the older version of Yachiru the more the idea grew, like a virus-

"Not like a virus, Ken-chan, like a plant. Let it grow! Let it get bigger until you can't find a reason to resist anymore! It's the only way Ken-chan! The only way!"

"Can you read my mind?" He asked breathlessly, staring at his with wide eyes.

"We're inside your mind, Ken-chan, of course I can. I- I know you're struggling but I promise you, nothing bad will happen. The hardest part is letting go, the rest will come easy."

He grunted sarcastically, eyeing her shapely body with a steadily growing hunger that he couldn't suppress no matter how he tried. She smiled and blushed, but the more he stared at her, she started acting a bit strange.

Her breathing grew faster and her hand twitched against her silken fabric robe, her eyes glazing over with some foreign look of other-wordly emotion. She gasped and finally brought her hand up to he throat as if it was dry and she needed something to drink.

"D- don't do that Kenny!"

"Do what?" he asked, completely baffled, since all he'd been doing was staring at her and feeling himself falling closer and closer to succumbing to her temptations.

"I'm part of Kenny, the m- more you feel, the more I feel too. If you don't hurry I- I!"

He watched in shock as she grasped at the collar of her robe, pulling it down, away from her long, slender neck. He felt something clench in his stomach and his breathing grew faster too. He tried to resist it, but the force puller him towards her was irresistible, and so was she. Everything about her made him want to lose his control.

But she was still Yachiru! The way her voice sounded, though when she changed size it sounded more adult, was still completely hers, and he couldn't ignore it. There were little things that kept reminding him that it was his Yachiru too, like her posture and the way she looked at him. Beneath the lust and craving he knew was taking her over, she still stared at him like he was the sun, the best thing in the world, the center of her lief.

Then finally, he lost the last bit of his reserve. He knew it was inevitable, and he dropped his guard, leaning towards her with a pained grimace. He reached a hand out to cup her face lightly. As soon as his skin touched hers she began to glow again, but he barely noticed.

"I love you so much, I'm only doing this for you, _for you_!"

She nodded as she closed her eyes and leaned forward the last inch so their lips met. Then the glow from her body expanded out through the entire world, blaring against Kenpachi's closed eyes as his heart did summer-saults, a million of them, before he opened his eyes and realized she wasn't kissing him anymore.

He blinked against the sudden light, bringing a hand up to cover his eyes while they adjusted, and finally he looked up and saw her. She was in her cat form again, but it looked less solid this time, and was floating gracefully in the air above him, smiling a very familiar Yachiru smile.

"You have passed my test, Kenpachi Zaraki."

"But I didn't go all the way!" he yelled up at her, confusion making him angry. "You said we had to have sex! We barely even kissed!"

"Well, it wouldn't be a very good Zanpakuto test if you knew what you were supposed to do, now would it, Kenny?"

"What?" he yelled again, it was so quiet in this strange inner world of his, it made him want to scream everything.

"The test wasn't whether you would be able to have sex with Yachiru or not, it was testing the reason you would do it, and you passed. I was impressed how long you fought for. It showed your true devotion."

"I don't understand goddammit!"

"Surely you didn't think your first time with your precious Yachiru would be like this? No, you need to come to terms with your feelings more, and that will take time. Time that you will have back in the real world, with the real Yachiru growing up into that fine woman you just saw. Understand now? You passed, you're worthy of my power. You're worthy of Yachiru. Now the only thing left for you to do is to save her."

"But what is my power? I thought I would get some sort of special attack or something? How can I save Yachiru when coming here and passing your damn stupid test did nothing for my power?"

"You shall see exactly what it did when you return to the real world. You had better be ready. Do you remember where Yachiru was when I brought you here? Save her, Kenpachi Zaraki. Save me. After all, you promised that you would always belong to me, remember?"

She began to glow again, even brighter than before, and as the warmth and light washed over him, Kenpachi Zaraki only let one thought enter his brain, and he kept it stuck with him until the light faded and he opened his eyes with an angry roar, throwing himself between Zanikko's evil ray and his tiny, precious Yachiru.

He even kept that thought in his mind as the ray blasted into his chest, scorching hot and so painful it felt as if he were being ripped to pieces from the heart out. From somewhere in the distance he heard Yachiru yell his name, and then another yell of fury overtook her small voice.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zanikko screamed. Kenpachi guessed she was screaming because he was her chance at reuniting with her Master, and if he died, she could never be with him again. He didn't really care. He could feel life slipping away from him. That thought that had been so strong in his mind a few moments before was still there, flickering in his subconscious.

It was a memory.

_"Ken-chan is mine, right?" a younger Yachiru questioned happily from her favorite place, safely sitting on Kenpachi's lap. _

_"What do you mean, Yachiru?" he asked in a bored tone as he looked down at her then leaned back against a thick tree trunk, completely relaxed. _

_"I mean, we're never gonna be apart, and I'm always here for you. Is Ken-chan always here for me? You'll never leave me, right? You belong to me." she said it with such possessive assurance Kenpachi could do nothing but chuckle and nod, adding as an afterthought, _

_"Sure, I belong to you. We can even get married someday when you're bigger, and I'll belong to you for real. Hows that?"_

_Her maroon eyes went wide and she smiled adorably. He probably would have given her anything she asked for in that moment is she kept making a face like that one. _

_"You promise Ken-chan?"_

_"Yeah," he replied. "I promise."_

It was a really nice memory.

The perfect moment to remember as one was dying, especially after selflessly saving the life of the one you loved.

Yeah, it was a nice memory.

* * *

**One more chapter everyone!**

**Sorry this took sooooo long to update but I had some computer troubles and i've been ACTUALLY trying to keep up with my homework for once in my life so yeaaaah.**

**Please review so I know someone still cares! KeikoPanda102**


	20. Chapter 20: Bye

Chapter 20: Bye

Kenpachi was dying. Dying sure sucked ass. It hurt like hell and there was nothing he could do, he couldn't even move. He could barely keep his eyes open, his muscles refused. Things were exploding all around him and though his sense of sight was failing, his ears heard it all.

Zanikko's scream, her anger burning in her voice. And another sound, sobs, Yachiru's sobs. Kenpachi wanted to comfort her so badly. Who knew, all this time and Yachiru was his zanpakuto spirit all along. He felt like hitting himself.

It was all his fault. If he hadn't insisted on visiting that damn zanpakuto graveyard every night and befriending that evil bitch Zanikko... If he hadn't been so obsessed with power, then maybe he could have stayed alive to keep his promise to Yachiru, to marry her like he said he would.

He didn't even care that she was his zanpakuto spirit, she was so much more than that, she was his reason for living. Her smile, her laugh, fuck! He never got the chance to see her naked. The real her, not the spirit in his head.

"Ken-chan, p-please don't die!" she cried, and he felt her small hands on either side of his face.

"Give it up you mutilated spirit! He's dead!" Zanikko was taking her anger out on Yachiru. Kenpachi wanted to rip her annoying pretty head off for snapping at his Yachiru that way. Oh, he was so angry, he started growling, his teeth clenched together, his fist clutching the shaft of his sword- but wait, that couldn't be right. He was dying, he couldn't move, how could he be raising his zanpakuto in battle like that?

"Now what do you think your doing little filthy zanpukuto spirit?" Zanikko said, half hysterical. "You are the most retarded thing i've ever seen. A zanpakuto spirit wielding herself? You should just die! Your master is dead, why aren't you!"

Cold fury felt like it was rushing through his bloodstream, but it wasn't like his own fury, it was Yachiru's fury. He could feel everything she felt. When he heard her reply to Zanikko, it was almost like it came out of his own mouth.

"I don't just belong to Ken-chan," she said slowly, gritting her teeth and pronouncing every word with an added drop of venom. "Ken-chan belongs to me too!"

Suddenly her anger reached a peak and she unleashed something awful on Zanikko, she hit the evil spirit with every once of spiritual pressure she had, Kenpachi could feel the way Zanikko cowered from her power, and it strengthened him. When she swung his blade, more strength seemed to flow into his weakened body. Every moment of the battle between Yachiru and Zanikko, Kenpachi felt like he was coming back to life, after a few sharp blows, he could open his eyes, and he watched as Zanikko dodged and dodged Yachiru's fierce, animalistic attacks that came one after the other, never ending.

But after the first huge attack, Yachiru's strength was diminishing with every blow, and Zanikko hadn't lied when she spoke about how strong of a spirit she was. She had no sword of her own but had her own powers- Kenpachi watched in horror as she placed her left hand on a gravestone and it turned to crumbs, then she grasped a small tree with her right hand, and it became solid steel which she used to defend against Yachiru's raging attacks.

Before long she had the upper hand and Kenpachi felt his heart skip beats every single time that left hand of hers came anywhere near Yachiru- he was terrified she would crumble to dust like those flowers Zanikko used in her descriptions of the way Zanpakuto spirits work. He should have realized that was part of her power when she did it the first time! He hadn't been thinking about fighting her then but it all seemed so stupid! What was he thinking? Now Yachiru might be disintegrated with just a touch and he couldn't do anything about it.

Zanikko was growing more confident the longer the fight went on. She laughed as Yachiru fell back on the ground, quickly spinning on her side to dodge another attack.

"You can't beat me you little worm! I have the power of a fully realized zanpakuto spirit. I could release my bankai if I wanted to and you would have no chance at all. You've no idea what your powers even _are _do you? He never once spoke your name with the intent to use your power. He failed you as a master and you failed equally as his weapon! You cannot defeat me as you are now! Stop fighting me now, little girl, before you get terribly hurt."

Yachiru bared her teeth and glared, and then for a moment Kenpachi thought she was going to stop fighting like Zanikko warned her to. Her shoulders slumped and she dropped his sword silently. Zanikko lowered her created weapon and laughed like the kind of wretched person who would laugh in another's face after having defeated them.

She barely noticed when Yachiru crawled back Kenpachi's side and knelt beside him, leaning her lips in close to his ear.

"Yachiru...?" he muttered, his strength was flowing out of him again. When she stopped fighting, he stopped feeling power. He didn't understand what she was doing. She seemed to be holding something that had been laying on the ground beside him but he couldn't tell what it was.

"Ken-chan..." she whispered, her voice was softer, she was drained of strength just like he was. "You always wanted to know what my zanpakuto's name was, didn't you?"

He stared at her bright pink hair in shock, then in one swift motion, she stood up as tall as she could and he saw her own weapon held tight in her hands, raised above his chest, and aimed at his heart.

"Wait, what are you doing?" he heard Zanikko yell in a panic. "Is he alive? What are you doing? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Yachiru, with tears in her eyes, plunged her own sword deep into Kenpachi's heart. He arched off the ground and roared in pain, though he couldn't hear himself scream. He couldn't hear anything but Yachiru's voice, clear as a bell as if she were yelling it from inside his mind scream,

"FIGHT! KENPACHI ZARAKI!"

The next moment, he landed hard back on the cold ground and felt the strangest sensation as Yachiru's sword was swallowed inside his chest until only the hilt was still visible. He didn't hurt anymore, and after only a second, he realized he could move.

He sat up and looked around blearily at Yachiru. Finally, it clicked. It _all_ clicked.

"I really _do_ belong to you, don't I?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"I get it now." he went on in amazement, wondering how he could've ever not understood it, it was so simple! "Zanpakuto aren't just weapons for fighting. They don't just make you stronger. They're... companions, aren't they?"

She nodded again, smiling.

"And I am your zanpakuto spirit, just like you are mine?"

Another nod. He stood up all the way, ignoring Zanikko, who was staring at him like he'd just risen from the dead, sputtering to herself in shock. He glanced down at the hilt of Yachiru's sword stuck inside his body, then down at her.

"Well, you gave me a command, didn't ya? I'm supposed to fight."

One final nod, and a hint of a smile. He smiled wide and cracked his knuckled, stretching his muscles as he prepared to follow through the command given to him by his precious master. Turning his smile towards her, he added one last statement,

"If you're here with me, I can't lose."

He caught one last glimpse of a true Yachiru smile before stepping towards Zanikko with uncontainable killing intent. He wasn't just fighting for the sake of fighting anymore. He was fighting because he was commanded to fight!

Once Zanikko realized her predicament, she fought back expertly. Her anger and confusion fueled her fighting spirit and the longer the battle went on, the more intense it became. They were evenly matched, except that Kenpachi didn't flinch from seriously harmful attacks. He didn't believe he would lose, he had no intention of losing. Not when Yachiru was right there watching him, depending on him to win. He would win. He had to if he wanted to make everything up to her.

Finally, after a lengthly battle in which Kenpachi didn't even bother to pick up his own sword, he pinned the evil Zanpakuto spirit against a tree, holding both of her dangerous hands away from anything. He was about to deliver the final blow, he didn't care if he had to deliver it with his teeth, when suddenly the strange creatures that had brought him, and the rest of the soul-reapers to the giant China graveyard in the first place, appeared out of anywhere and everywhere, crawling over both Kenpachi and Zanikko and hissing at them. They pushed Kenpachi away and took his place holding Zanikko to the tree.

Shocked, Kenpachi watched as more and more of the strange creatures appeared out of thin air, crawling and circling around Zanikko, who's fear was apparent on her panicked face. Finally there were so many of them she was obstructed from view.

"Kenpachi Zaraki!" Hearing his name called, Kenpachi turned around and saw all of the other Zanpakuto spirits lined up behind him. The female spirit with the long red dress and tight bun, who still reminded Kenpachi of a school-teacher, spoke to him softly.

"You have done well in assisting us, kenpachi Zaraki. Zanikko will soon be gone from here, and with her gone, we are free to move on as well. Free to join our masters in eternal peace."

"What are those things?" he asked, pointing to the small monsters still circling the tree Zanikko had been pinned to.

"We aren't quite sure." She replied thoughtfully. "We believe they were sent to bring balance back to this graveyard. Zanikko was disturbing that balance, you see. We shouldn't have been here. She shouldn't have been here. It was a foolish idea to try and bring her master back to life, but she was distraught. You can imagine how painful it must have been, can't you? Having to live without your other half?"

He nodded, beginning to understand why Zanikko did the things she did. Suddenly there was a commotion behind him. He turned around the saw that the creatures who had surrounded Zanikko completely were beginning to vanish just like they appeared. When they were finally all gone, only the tree was left, Zanikko was nowhere to be seen. He turned back to the other zanpakuto spirits just as they began to fade. A few of them waved at him before they disappeared completely.

For a moment, the entire graveyard was silent and dark.

Then, out of the darkness he heard Yachiru scream his name. A sharp pain pierced his chest and he fell on his knees as it burned into his heart. He looked down and saw the hilt of Yachiru's zanpakuto begin to un-lodge itself from his chest. The pain was so much he couldn't even open his eyes. Then he felt a tiny hand place itself on his chest, and the sword began to come out of his chest faster. He squinted his eyes open despite the pain and saw Yachiru pulling her sword from his chest with all of her strength. Finally, after a full minute, it was gone. He fell to the ground and gasped to regain his breath, then, when he felt brave enough, he gulped and reached up to touch the place on his body the sword had been plunged into.

He felt nothing. There was not even a single scratch.

"K-Ken-chan are you alright?" Yachiru asked breathlessly. Pulling the sword out of him had taken a lot of her strength as well.

"Yeah," he laughed, turning to look at her perfect face. "I'm alright Yachiru. I knew I couldn't lose."

"Ken-chan!" she cried, then flung her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his in a perfect kiss. Of course, he figured any kiss she gave him would be perfect. She was perfect, after all. Perfect for him.

A few minutes later their friends found them and Kenpachi explained the whole thing with Yachiru interjecting little bits and pieces every now and then. They could barely believe what they were hearing, and when he was finished, Hitsugaya was first to ask,

"So those creatures that we were fighting should be gone now, according to your story?"

"Yeah. They're gone for good."

"Oooh! We can go home now!" Rangiku said happily.

They all began walking out of the great China Graveyard together, remarking about how extraordinary this mission was, especially for both Kenpachi and Zaraki.

When they reached the main entrance they were surprised to find all four of the guard brothers there to see them out.

"We hope to see you again." they said in unison, smiling those odd smiles of theirs. Rangiku couldn't shake the strange feeling she had whenever she saw them. It probably would have bothered her all the way home if Yachiru hadn't distracted her by saying something very surprising the next moment.

She was riding on Kenpachi's shoulder, her usual preferred spot, when she said lightly,

"I want to get home quick too."

"How come?" Orihime asked cheerfully.

Yachiru just smiled and replied flatly, "So I can marry Ken-chan like he promised we would!"

Nearly everyone stopped in their tracks and stared with wide eyes at Kenpachi who just tried to keep walking and ignored their shocked looks as he muttered quietly to Yachiru,

"Um, Yachiru, I think we still have to wait a few years to do something like that..."

"But Kenny promised!" she whined pouting her lips sadly.

No amount of awkward laughing could change the fact that everyone around was glaring at him with such intensity he thought he might spontaneously combust.

_Fuck, _he thought to himself as Yachiru kissed him innocently on the cheek. _Just what have I gotten myself into?_

The end!

**So, I changed this story to T-rating. Because... yeah. no sex. Oh well.**

**Hope you liked this, and please review with final comments and stuff! **

**KeikoPanda102**


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